CHAPTER 12

It took Callie two days to call Arizona. Two days to get over whatever emotional crap she felt lay between them because of what they had experienced. Two days of cursing herself for being so scared. Two days of not sleeping very well. And two days of thinking about how wonderful Arizona was. And how brave.

When Arizona picked up, the blonde sounded out of breath.

"Callie?"

"Yes, hi, I..."

"Callie, I'm on my way into surgery. Can I...can you...can we talk later?"

"Yeah, sure" Callie said, but she wasn't sure Arizona heard it because all the latina heard was the beeping tone of Arizona having hung up on her.

"Dammit!" she said to herself. It had taken her so long to work up the courage to call, and now she would have to work it up all over again.

She called the doctor 5 hours later and got a groggy sounding Arizona on the line.

"Oh, I'm sorry, were you sleeping?"

"Yeah, don't worry, I'm in an on call room. I should have called you back. I was just...so tired"

"I can call back later?" Callie almost whispered.

"No. Now is perfect, Callie"

Callie smiled into the phone, She could hear from Arizona's voice that the doctor was happy to hear from her.

"I...I was thinking if you would like to...uh...go out for dinner...with me...this weekend?" Callie stuttered. She cursed herself for not having practiced before calling.

There was a silence on the other end. It lasted a few seconds too long for Callie.

"I'd love to" then came Arizona's soft voice "I'd really, really love to"

"Great!" Callie breathed out "I can pick you up at 7 on Saturday?"

"Sounds great!"

There was another silence.

"How are you doing?" Callie asked. She was referring to them not sleeping together.

"I'm doing...okay. But I'm looking forward to sleeping with you again. See you Saturday, Calliope"

And then Arizona hung up.

Callie stared at her phone.

They were now going to go on a date. A date that could lead to sex.

The mere thought and the memory of Arizona's husky voice on the phone made Callie both nervous and aroused. She clenched her jaw and returned her focus to some paperwork that needed to be taken care of. She couldn't let go of the image of Arizona though. And Arizona's dimples.

Saturday came fast.

Callie stayed in the taxi for a while, gathering courage, before she went into Arizona's building to get the blonde.

She also hesitated when standing in front of the doctor's door. But when she finally knocked, and Arizona opened, she was rewarded with the most beautiful sight.

Arizona was wearing a blue strapless dress that stopped right below the knee. She had let her hair down, and her blue eyes twinkled in the light from the hall.

Callie stared. The blonde tilted her head and smiled at the latina.

Callie cleared her throat.

"You look really good" she mustered.

"Thank you, you too" the blonde said, looking the latina up and down.

She loved Callie's legs. Ever since she'd seen them in the club, they'd been her favorite thing to look at. And sleeping in the same bed as Callie for a few weeks had given her plenty of opportunities to appreciate the sight of Callie's God-like limbs.

Tonight Callie was wearing a short black dress that left very little to the imagination. She. Looked. Hot.

Arizona grabbed her purse, and then they left for the restaurant.

They had a good time and for the first time in a long time neither of them thought about what had happened to them. They felt carefree. And happy.

"We saved all of them. Isn't that amazing?" Arizona said with a big smile on her face. She'd just told Callie about her day. A bus full of German tourists had driven off the road and a lot of the passengers had gotten hurt badly and had ended up in the ER of Seattle Grace. None had died though which had been nothing short of a miracle. It had been a great day.

Callie simply stared at Arizona. She really, really enjoyed listening to Arizona talk about work. The blonde had a passion that was quite contagious.

"You're amazing" Callie croaked and took a sip of her wine to down the lump in her throat caused by a sudden rush of emotions.

"Hardly" Arizona said dryly and then she looked at Callie with serious eyes. She swallowed and bit her lip as to gather courage, and then she said "I'm sorry, Callie"

"For what?"

"For…for being so stubborn…for letting Sam Banner…It was all my fault…"

"Don't" Callie said with a stern voice "Don't, Arizona"

"But…"

"Arizona… It's was not your fault. Don't ever think that!"

"I…"

"Please!"

Arizona didn't break eye contact with the latina. Callie's eyes were dark and serious and full of something Arizona couldn't quite put her finger on. Immense care? Love?

Then Arizona nodded, accepting that Callie was not having any of her apologizing.

And that was it. There would be no more discussing what happened. No more mentioning Sam Banner. Their capturers would take up no more time in their lives. The only thing left was testifying, and even that would be done on video, far away from the men that had held them locked up.

They were both silent for a while. And then Arizona said "I've been thinking about that place in Miami. The café with the tamales. And…I think we should go and see if it's still there" She paused "You and me. Together"

Callie looked at her and clenched her jaw. The woman sitting in front of her was making her seriously weak in the knees.

Then she nodded "That…that sounds like a really good idea"

It was an exchange of only two sentences and still it carried so much meaning. They both knew.

Two hours later, as they walked up to Arizona's apartment building Callie got suddenly nervous. Should she have just driven on in the taxi? What did Arizona expect? What was going to happen?

But her thoughts were pointless, because when they got closer to the front door of the building, the blonde grabbed her hand, and directed her into the building with her.

Arizona lit candles. They had a glass of wine on the couch. They moved closer to each other.

Callie initiated the kiss. She couldn't help it. Arizona's lips looked so very inviting. They felt good too.

Callie let her finger tips run up and down Arizona's arms and back, touching the blonde very softly. She loved how Arizona's skin reacted to her touch.

They kissed for a long time. It felt amazing but at the same time, Arizona couldn't help but think that they should be doing more than kissing.

"Callie...I...I need you..." she whispered huskily into Callie's ear.

Callie swallowed thickly. She was ready to selfcombust from want, but she was at a complete loss with how to approach being intimate with Arizona.

Usually she'd be in charge from the start, pushing whomever she was with up against a wall or down on a bed before ravishing them. She liked it that way. And she was good at it. Good a pleasure.

Arizona straddled her lap, leaned her head down and kissed Callie with so much want that it took Callie's breath away. She could feel Arizona moving her hips slightly, and it made the latina wish for more friction. Naked friction.

Arizona grabbed Callie's hands and placed them on the top of her buttocks, guiding Callie to how she wanted to be touched. She felt like Callie was holding back. The brunette was being almost painfully gentle with her, only moving her hands very slowly.

It made Arizona put a hand on either side of Callie's face and say "Callie, talk to me"

The latina looked her into the eyes for a few seconds.

"I…I don't know…"

"Please don't hold back with me" Arizona whispered and ghosted her lips across Callie's. She knew why Callie was being gentle. She understood. But she didn't need the Latina to be. She wanted them to start this with a clean slate. Without the memories of what had happened. Without worries.

Arizona swallowed thickly. She pulled up her dress so that it rested around her waist. Then she took Callie's hand and guided it down into her panties where Callie could feel the warm, slick heat of her arousal.

"Just take me, Calliope"

Arizona's words lit a fire in the latina. She blinked a couple of times, and then she pushed Arizona down on the couch without pulling her hand out of the blonde's panties. Gone were the trepidation and the fear. They had vanished into thin air with Arizona's surrender.

Arizona gasped from pleasant surprise and leaned her head back as she felt Callie moving her hand against her sex. It felt so good.

Then Callie stopped her movements for long enough to unzip Arizona's dress and pull it off. The blonde wasn't wearing a bra so all she was wearing was her soaked panties.

Callie let her eyes roam Arizona's body to take it all in. This was a completely different experience than being in the dirty factory showers together. What they were doing was only for them. And it wasn't full of pain.

Callie placed her hand on Arizona's chest for a second before she moved it to the blonde's cheek and leaned down to kiss her.

"Bedroom, Callie. I...I need to see you" Arizona whispered and they quickly moved into the other room.

They paused for a minute while standing next to the bed in front of each other. Callie was the first one to move. She unzipped her dress and let it fall to the floor, exposing tanned skin and black lace underwear.

Arizona swallowed, and then she took a step forward and placed a hand on Callie's breast. It did something to her. Alost frantically she moved both hands behind Callie and opened the bra so that she could see and feel the skin of the latina's breasts.

Callie's nipples hardened under her touch, and as they both got on the bed, there was no turning back for either of them.

Callie pulled off both her own and Arizona's underwear, leaned in over the blonde, and let her hand travel down between her legs to resume what she had been doing earlier.

Arizona's hand did the same and soon they were moving in sync, pleasuring each other.

Their high came fast. What pulled Callie over the edge was the way Arizona buried her face in the latina's hair and whimpered as she came.

In a way it felt completely new. But it also felt known. Like coming home.

It made Callie's heart explode into a million little pieces of love that drizzled down into her core.

She knew then that her fears had been inane.

She knew that Arizona was the one.