CHAPTER 12

It was Thursday afternoon, and Callie was having a meltdown. She had felt pressured into telling Arizona that she was now back in her apartment and also to tell the blonde where the apartment was. She had lied and lied and lied and it was now making her blood pressure shoot through the roof.

They'd had a few weeks of seeing each other at Arizona's place and at the hotel, but it seemed more and more implausible that Callie was still staying at the hotel, hence the lie about being back in her apartment.

She paced the floor of her office. Tim was on the couch looking at her.

"I'm gonna tell her, Tim. I just need a little more time" She looked at him with desperate eyes.

He nodded in understanding.

"Can we do Francesca's tonight?"

She was referring to an Italian restaurant not far from Arizona's place.

"Tonight?" he said incredulously.

"Yes. I sort of want to divert her thoughts from the whole apartment thing by taking her somewhere nice"

"Miss Torres, Francesca's…I don't know…It's already 3 o'clock…" He saw the pleading look in Callie's eyes "We'll make it happen" he then said and started scribbling on his note pad.

"Thank you, Tim. I…I need this"

He looked up and saw something he had never seen in his boss before.

"Miss Torres, I will be as discrete about this as possible, but for your safety, for her safety, and for us to be able to help you, I need to ask you; will this turn romantic? Are you falling for Miss Robbins?"

"I am NOT falling for her!" she shot back. And just that second she knew that for a fact she was – without a doubt - very much falling for Arizona Robbins, peds surgeon and wonderful, wonderful human being.

She slumped down into a chair. Defeated by her own feelings.

"I don't know anymore, Tim. I just wanted to be a regular person. This…mess…"

"Take a deep breath, Miss Torres. And go and figure out what this mess is, okay?"

She looked him into the eyes and nodded. She needed to clean up this whole story.

When the two women arrived at Francesca's a few hours later, the place looked very cozy from the outside. Arizona had gotten a text from Callie that she was already inside, and so the blonde made her way through the front door of the restaurant where she was greeted by an usher who took her coat and directed her towards where Callie was sitting.

Callie saw the blonde and got up. Arizona's heart started hammering. Callie was wearing a tight black dress, her hair cascading down over her shoulders in waves. The golden jewelry around her neck looked amazing against her tanned skin, and the lipstick… 'UGH!' Arizona willed her thoughts away and gave Callie a hug.

"Wow" Callie said "You look really great!"

"Thanks, so do you!"

They stood there looking at each other for a few seconds in awkward silence until Callie cleared her throat and pointed at a chair.

"Please, sit down"

Callie watched the blonde as she moved to sit down. Arizona was wearing a short blue dress that showed enough cleavage to make Callie's head spin.

After they'd ordered food and gotten their wine Callie was the first one to start talking.

"Sorry that we couldn't do this at my place"

"Yeah. I'm starting to think that maybe you live under a bridge" Arizona laughed.

Callie smiled "Not exactly. Plumbing problems are just never very convenient" All these lies were making Callie dizzy and she had to force herself to move them to the back of her mind so that they wouldn't over cloud the evening.

Luckily Arizona didn't think much of the fact that Callie had called last minute and asked if they could go out for dinner instead of doing it at her place. All the blonde had said "Tell me what I need to wear to this place because you say the name 'Francesca's' like it's something fancy"

Callie had laughed and said that a simple dress would do.

And now they were seated in Francesca's, surrounded by people that Callie knew had been hired to be there, and Arizona looked so radiant that it almost made the latina forget that they were in a completely staged setting.

They had some wine which made both of them loosen up a little.

Arizona told the brunette about a case she had at the hospital where two teenagers had been hit by a truck while they were having sex in a car. None of them had gotten seriously hurt, and the way Arizona was explaining the scene of getting the kids out of the car, naked and ashamed, made both women laugh.

"He kept begging me not to call his mom" Arizona said between fits of laughter.

"Did you call her?"

"Of course I did! He was under age and he had a broken collarbone"

"Poor guy" Callie laughed.

"Well, maybe next time they'll think before they start having sex in the middle of the entry road to the hospital parking lot" Arizona said with a bit of seriousness.

"Come on, Arizona! You've never snuck out of your parents' house and parked somewhere with your boyfriend so you could have sex? You've never wanted someone so much that you had to pull over and have sex in the car?"

Arizona's mouth opened, but she didn't say anything. Instead she looked at Callie's mouth for a tenth of a second.

"I…I've never…uh…had sex in a car" she then confessed.

"Really?" Callie said in disbelief.

"Really"

"I thought having sex in your car was part of everyone's American dream" Callie chuckled earning a laugh from the blonde.

"Apparently not mine" Arizona smiled. Arizona wasn't inexperienced. AT ALL. But thinking back she couldn't even remember being in a car with a man at a point in their relationship where the need for immediate sex was an issue.

"Okay, well, your life is not over yet" Callie then said and lifted her glass "To having sex in vehicles"

Arizona laughed and lifted her glass as well "To having sex in vehicles"

The two women continued their evening in a good mood.

When they'd finished the dinner and Callie – after having insisted long enough – had paid the bill, they walked outside and stood on the sidewalk breathing in the fresh air of the evening.

Arizona could feel the effect of the wine and she kept looking at Callie with a large smile on her face.

"Thank you for a wonderful dinner, Callie"

"You're welcome"

"It was delicious, but next time, we're cooking at your place. I'll bring the ingredients. Do you own pots and pans?"

Callie laughed "Yes. I do own pots and pans" Callie thought of her kitchen at The Mazatlán. It was well-equipped but had never been used much.

They looked at each other in silence.

When the moment started getting awkward, Callie decided to take the first step to end the evening.

"Well, I'll see you on Monday?" she said and lifted her eyebrows in expectation. Arizona needed her help carrying a door from her apartment down into a basement storage room.

"Yes – 6 o'clock? I'll treat you to pizza and beer" Arizona smiled and it made Callie's heart do a flip.

"I'll be there"

Callie leaned in and gave Arizona the softest hug. Arizona's nose was buried in Callie's hair, and the blonde breathed in the mixture of the brunette's natural scent, her perfume, and her shampoo.

And right at that moment it became blatantly obvious to Arizona that she was falling for Callie.