Disclaimer: This is AU. I do not own any of the characters from Grey's Anatomy. I just manipulate them to my will. Also, any line or phrase or setting that seems remotely familiar from any other show, movie or book, also not mine.

AN: Alright, another chapter is ready. Not as fast paced as the last one but it brings the whole story up to a rolling boil. We last left off with Arizona surviving the collapsed burning building, only to have her ass chewed out by her partner, followed by some hot loving from a smoking hot Ortho surgeon. Let's see what she is up to now. Enjoy!

Chapter 25

Out of nowhere, my mind propels me into consciousness. I jump in the bed, my eyes flashing open in a minute. I was just in the middle of a dream, about what I don't know, but now I'm fully awake. …why am I up? The mumble of something unintelligible from behind me tells me Callie is still asleep, and I don't hear Miguel crying over the baby monitor, nor is Sofia calling for me. Calming my breathing, I tune my ears in to find the cause of my sudden alertness. Then I hear it, the sound of car doors slamming and engines firing up. Some muffled talking from just outside my home and then another car door slams. Glancing at the bedside clock I see it's just before 6 am.

"Shift change…" I growl. Turning onto my back, I stretch my tired and sore muscles, a moan slipping from my lips. It's Tuesday morning, and yesterday was a day from hell. Got kicked off the case by the Director, then nearly got killed in a fire… then in a building collapse. Then I REALLY got kicked off the case by my partner. The only thing that salvaged the day was last night. I spent the night with my family. A REAL night. I even put away the case file for the entire evening and just focused on my wife and my kids.

After trying to get back to sleep for a couple minutes, I decide that I'm up for good. Rolling out of bed, I tip toe around the room and head into the bathroom. It takes me a minute to remember that I actually don't have anything to do. Like… nothing. I've been forced to take a leave of absence since I am being investigated, which means I can't even work on any other case that may be littering my desk right now. My anger slowly builds again as I think about Sam, and how she's managed to be just one step ahead of my every move. Instead of hopping in the shower, I throw on my workout clothes and head downstairs. …I need to run. And run hard.

"Morning Agent Robbins." The one of the on duty uniforms greets me as I step out the front door.

"Special Agent." I grumble, then step down the porch stairs.

"Uhh, ma'am!" The other officer calls, stopping me in my tracks. When I turn back to look at him he continues "Where are you going?"

"For a run." I answer flatly, giving them a look like 'are you writing a book or something'?

"Sorry ma'am, we can't allow you to do that." The first officer says. This pisses me off even more, so I turn and face them head on. I can see his façade crumbling but he keeps with it. "You're not allowed anywhere without an escort… and we really aren't prepared to go running." He explains, looking down at his uniform.

"So I'm a prisoner now?" I spit at the two police, even though I know it's not their call.

"Sorry, ma'am. But it's above our pay grade. You know-" He tries to cover his ass but I don't want to hear it.

"Yeah yeah." I growl, cutting them off. Succumbing to the fact that I won't get my usual four mile run in today, I head out to the back yard. It's fenced in with a security fence, and if I wanted to, I could easily scale it. But the words of my partner hit me again, so I decide that just this once I will play by the rules. I may not be able to run, but that doesn't mean I can't get a good sweat going. It doesn't take long for my heart to start pounding as I do wind sprints, jumping jacks, lunges, squats, and a whole host of other 'stationary' exercise moves. Pushups, sit ups, and even some pull ups using the lowest bough of the tree gives me a good strength training session as well as cardio. My lungs start to burn a lot sooner than usual, the smoke from yesterday still affecting my body. Once I'm sure I'm about to die, I decide to call it quits.

On my way back up to the bedroom, I make sure that I start the coffee maker so that when I come back downstairs I'll have a fresh pot waiting for me. Just like always, whenever I pass the kids bedrooms, I peek in to make sure they are doing alright. They still have about a half hour before we get them up, so they are still fast asleep. I strip off my shirt as I cross the threshold of the bedroom, and throw it in the laundry pile. Callie is starting to stir, but she fights it and tries to burrow herself deeper into the mattress.

Just as I am passing her side of the bed to enter the bathroom, a husky, sleep filled voice says "What have you been up to?" Turning on my heel, I walk back to the half asleep Latina, and sit on the edge of the mattress.

"I needed to work out." I say softly, leaning in to place a kiss on her lips. "Had some things on my mind."

"You're all sweaty." She growls, her hand running over the slick surface of my bare back. My sports bra is nearly saturated, and my nipples show clearly through the white fabric.

"I'll go take a shower." I tell her, then go to stand but a strong hand on my arm keeps me on the bed.

"I didn't say you being sweaty was a bad thing." She purrs, then pulls me down on top of her.

"You like it when I'm all gross like this?" I play, moving a toned leg in between her sheet covered center. Last night, after the kids were down, we continued where we left off in the kitchen. But I can never get enough of Callie. …There is no such thing as too much sex with this woman.

"Mmhmm…" She hums, then buries her nose in the crook of my neck. "You smell so good. 100% Arizona. And it turns me on like nothing else." Callie growls, then captures my lips in a searing kiss. I quickly work at removing the sheets separating us and bringing our bodies flush together. Luckily for me, Callie is still naked from last night's activities, so that means less time wasted.

"What time is it?" She asks as my lips move down her neck.

"We have a half hour." I answer, knowing that she is wondering how long we have before we go from two sexy women, to two moms. Without notice, Callie flips us so she is the one on top.

"Guess I better hurry up then…" She says, giving me a kiss then quickly leaning back to slide my shorts down my legs. My wife's tongue runs up and down my neck, collecting the salty drops that have collected there from my workout. A gasp falls from my lips when deft fingers find my aroused nub and starts to tease it.

"Say my name." She growls, then nips at the tender flesh above my pulse point.

"Fuck Calliope…" I breathe out, my mind no longer in this world but in heaven. Just when I think I'm close, two fingers slide into me, and crank up the intensity three fold. The surgeon's strong arms allow her to thrust in and out of me with amazing strength and I have to grip the flesh of her back to keep from being pushed right off the bed.

"Yes baby… oh god yes… right there… fuck me…" I groan in between pants. Needing more of her, I hook a leg around her waist, and she reaches deeper than ever. Our body's rock as one, my breath washing over her neck as I bury my face there to keep my moans of pleasure muffled.

"Calliope… I'm close." I warn her. The warmth starts to spread through my body, signaling the very near release I so desperately want right now. My wife knows exactly what to do to me to make me come undone, and knowing exactly when to do it. Just as the peak reaches, her fingers curl in just the right spot that sends me plunging into oblivion. My body tenses and shakes as the waves of pleasure rush through me. I whisper Callie's name right in her ear as I come, and it makes her moan with desire.

When my orgasm finally subsides, I collapse back into the mattress. My arms and legs feel like jello and my heart is racing faster than when I was working out. Dark eyes look down at me and a satisfied grin crosses her full lips, happy with her performance she just gave. She places slow, lazy kisses over my neck and chest while I struggle to get my breathing back under control.

"How was that for a work out?" She growls in between nipping at the flesh below my ear.

"Definitely more fun than running…" I reply, making both of us chuckle. My hands getting lost in her gorgeous black locks, I pull her back up so I can kiss her fully on the lips. Just as I'm about to rally so I can return the favor, warning cries come from the baby monitor on the night stand. We both growl, knowing that our sexy time is over, and we are now mothers again.

"I'll get him, you get your stinky butt in the shower." Callie tells me, then gives me another wet kiss before hopping off the bed and pulling on some clothes. The next second I'm alone in our room, nearly naked and completely satisfied.

After a quick shower and when I pull back on a pair of jeans and my USMC hoodie, I head downstairs to join the rest of my family. The sight that greets me makes me smile. Sofia, her eyes and 4 year old brain still very foggy from her sleep, is fighting to keep herself sitting up in the her seat at the table. Mowgli, now a whole 8 months old, is babbling happily while his little feet kick and kick from the high chair.

"Morning baby girl." I say softly as I place a kiss on her bed head, then try to tame it a little by combing a couple fingers through is. "How you sleep?"

"Mmmk." She answers sleepily which makes me laugh. …definitely Calliope's daughter.

"And how did you sleep little man?" I coo as I pick Mowgli up. A squeal of joy shrieks through the house as he grasps my still damp hair and gives it a good yank. …ow! Once I get my golden locks out of his tiny hand, I walk around the kitchen to my wife who is busily making some breakfast for the two kids.

"I got it, babe. You go get ready." I tell her after giving her a kiss.

"You need to get ready though. I can do this, you can't be late." She says, placing some scrambled eggs and toast with peanut butter in front of Sofia.

"Actually, Calliope… I'm not going to work." I tell her, remembering that I didn't actually have this conversation last night. What with her being so happy I was alive, our family time, and then Callie's and my 'special' time… my temporary forced leave never came up.

"You working from home today?" She asks, hurrying herself around the kitchen. I just shake my head. "Uhh… you taking a sick day? I mean, you should. If you're just half as bad as Spade sounded yesterday, you really should take a rest Arizona."

"No, I'm not taking a sick day. I'm… I'm on forced leave." I state, my eyes dropping to the ground.

"Excuse me?" She asks. "Why?"

"Well… the Director took me off the case… as I told you yesterday. But after what happened with Spade and I… Teddy told me if I interfered with her investigation again that she'd throw my ass in the brig." I tell her. Brown eyes stare at me, and I can almost feel her reading me like a book. Then she does that little eyebrow raise that tells me she knows there is more.

"And… I'm under investigation." I finally add.

"You're what?" She asks like she thought she heard it wrong.

"Internal Affairs is investigating me. …For misconduct or some shit like that. So I'm on leave until such time IA and the Director deems me ready for duty again, and that's if I pass. I have a feeling that that asshole would damn near bribe IA to get me out of the Bureau for good." I spit. I wait for Callie to say something, anything. To chew me out, or to start spitting out Spanish as she bad mouths the Director but it doesn't come. She takes a deep breath, kisses me on the cheek, then heads upstairs. …that was weird. Definitely not the fiery Latina I married.

While Callie gets ready, I take over baby duty. It's a chore to get the two fed, especially in the morning. Miguel is a handful, full of energy and never sitting still long enough for me to get a spoon in his mouth. And Sofia, the one that CAN feed herself, is almost in a coma during the mornings. I have to poke her like every minute just to make sure she doesn't do a face plant into her plate of eggs. But when I deem both fed, the next round of the morning starts. …Getting dressed and ready for the day. Over the past year we have come up with a pretty efficient system and after some threatening of no dessert until Sofia is 18 years old, both babies are dressed and ready on time.

Once Callie is back downstairs, looking even more amazing than she did earlier this morning, she hurriedly packs up Mowgli bag, then grabs the baby and goes to head out. "Have a good day, mija." She says, quickly giving a kiss to Sofia, then turns to me. Again, I wait for her to say something… anything. But nothing. I get a kiss, then I kiss Miguel. With that, half of my world takes their leave to the hospital with an escort from Agent Booth, the agent assigned to watch Miguel during the day.

"You and Momma fighting?" Sofia asks, very adept about picking up on the tension surrounding her two mothers.

"No baby girl, Momma and I aren't fighting." I reassure her then look down and see her pink princess back pack strapped to her. "You ready for school, little lady?"

"Yes, ma'am." She replies, giving me a little salute as she snaps her body to attention.

"Alright, come on soldier. Let's get going." I tell her. With a police escort on our six, Sofia and I head towards her kindergarten. When Agent Wilson shows up, on time as always, I pass guardianship of my daughter over to the man. With a kiss and a love you, Sofia runs into the school, anxious to start another day with her friends.

Once I get back home, I pull out the case file again and immerse myself all over again. If I can't physically be on the case then I'll do my damnedest to work the back door route. I go over statements, interviews, look at the graphic pictures, anything and everything I have to work with. I even steal the white erase board from Callie's office upstairs and use it as my own, personal, murder board. Hours slowly tick by as I lay out the case over the white expanse. Different color lines connect people to people, colors distinguishing what kind of connection they have. Red seems to be the primary of all the colors, signifying a connection of hurt, murder, or abduction. Sam seems to have red lines running to everyone else I have up on the board. The only one who doesn't have a red line attached to the psychopath is Frankie, her half brother. …she hasn't turned on him yet, at least as far as we know. But she stabbed his brother. That's got to shake their relationship. Taking a chance, I pull out my phone and hit the speed dial.

"Altman." My estranged partner answers.

"Hey Teds, its me." I say, trying to make my voice sound a lot lighter than how I feel.

"This had better be a social call." She warns me.

"Sure, sure… umm, I was just wondering if you've gotten any lead on-" I start but get cut off.

"Damn it, Arizona. What did I say? Butt. The. Fuck. Out. …Or I'll lock your ass up." Teddy spits and I can hear the gentle clicking of a door being shut as she moves out of a public space into a more private setting.

"Look, I'm not getting in the way, alright? I'm home. I'm going to stay home. No shooting guns out of peoples hands. No jumping off the roofs of burning and collapsing buildings. No 'Rambo-ing' going on, alright?" I tell her. "Just… I need to do something. I can't sit on my hands and wait for the Director and IA to pull my credentials. And I can't do nothing while Sam is circling closer and closer."

When Teddy doesn't shoot me down, I continue "Have you gotten any eyes on on Frankie?"

"No." She answers shortly.

"Have whoever look into a connection between Frankie and Sam." I tell her, reverting back to my position as boss. "There has to be something more than just their father. …Sam has turned on EVERY other person besides him. There has to be more to their relationship. A past, or… some dark dark secret."

"Fine." Teddy huffs, just trying to get me to shut up and hang up.

"Also… I've looked over the property records of Max's hideout, and the house that Sofia and I were kept in, as well as Cynthia Nealy's house… they all belong to the same person." I pause, waiting for some sort of reply but all I hear is the tapping of some computer keys and rustling of papers.

"Martin Knox." Teddy finally says. "I'll get a background on him, see if he and Max were ever buddies."

"And pull every other piece of property he has. Maybe Sam or Frankie are using one of them as another safe house. It's not much to go on-"

"But its better than knocking on every door in Seattle." Teddy finishes for me and I can almost hear the hope return to her voice. "Way to go, boss." She adds softly before the line goes dark.

I get back to studying the case, morning turning into midday. The two officers posted out front talk back and forth, their radios crackling to life every now and then, provide a good background noise. When the few texts I send to my wife don't get returned, it shoots down my idea about going to meet her for lunch. She's either in surgery, or purposely NOT answering me. At just after 12 pm, a knocking on the door stirs me from my reading of Sean Quinn's medical record. I instinctively reach for my sidearm, but its not there. …fuck.

When I look through the frosted glass paned of the front door, I see a dark face standing on the other side.

"Spade!" I exclaim as I swing the door open. The detective gives me a bright smile. "How you feeling?" I ask as I step forward and share a hug with her. It's the biggest step in our relationship yet, but after I nearly got her killed a hug feels necessary.

"Better. Lungs are still a little tight, but I'm good." She answers, then follows me into the house. "How about you? I heard you didn't go to the hospital."

"No… I didn't. Not really my scene." I say, trying to brush the question off. When we walk back into the living room, her eyes go wide as she takes in the mess before her. Papers and files and pictures spread over the entire room.

"I see you've been busy…" She breathes out as she shrugs off her jacket. I watch as she approaches the murder board, studying the known connections, and then takes in all the leaps I've taken, trying to find anything that could help us. Most of it is guessing, but we need SOME sort of lead before Sam's trail runs cold.

"Spade… I need to apologize." I say softly. The taller woman turns to look at me and gives me a questioning look. "For… for putting you in danger like that. If I had just called it in-"

"Then more of us would have been trapped in that building." She cuts me off. I don't reply to that, mainly because I think she's right.

I take a breath and try again. "I just… I've made this situation worse by acting outside the lines sometimes. And I've involved you in that. After years of bending the rules so much… I don't realize when I bend them too far and they end up snapping. You could have been seriously hurt… or you could have died."

"But I didn't. You didn't. We are both alive, and not too much worse for wear. So, drop it Robbins." Sharice tells me. I go to argue but she beats me to it. "I get it, ok? You feel guilty. You think you led me in there and that you are to blame. Well… get over it. I'm a grown ass woman. I've been on the force longer than I care to say, and I know how to take care of myself. If I didn't want to work with you, I wouldn't. If I didn't want to go into that building, I wouldn't have. But I did. And it's on both of us. So whatever pity party you got going on in that brain of yours, knock it off. We got work to do. There is still a cop killer out there who is just looking to wear my bracelets."

Detective Spade and I spend the next few hours throwing theories back and forth. It helps, having someone to reel in your ideas, or to nod along when something starts to make sense. Sharice has been given a couple days off as well, to recover from her injuries from yesterday, and she is more than happy to join me in my forced leave. Coffee flows freely, the brown liquid seeming to grease the wheels of our brain. Every few minutes or so I look to my phone, hoping for a call from Teddy. A call that will give us more information. Maybe this Knox guy is just a coincidence, maybe he's just a filthy rich guy that goes around buying up property then leases is out. …but I don't believe in coincidences. Finally, the clock on the wall chimes 3 pm, telling me that its time to go pick Sofia up.

After saying goodbye to Spade, and getting the police escort set up, I fire up the engine of my undercover cruiser and head out. I pull up at the curb of the school about ten minutes before the kids are let out, so I step out of the car and wait. A couple other moms' drive by and shout at me that this area is not the pick up zone, that there is a line. All I do is hold up my badge, then ignore them. So maybe I'm abusing the power of the shield …get over it.

Finally the dams break and tiny humans come running out of the red double doors. Screams of joy and laughter fill the air as the babies race to their mommies and daddies. As I'm looking over my shoulder to check on the two police officers standing just up and down the street, a pair of strong arms wrap around my legs.

"Mommy!" Sofia yells, pulling on my jeans for me to lift her up.

"Hey honey bear…" I say, hoisting her up into a big hug. "How was school today, baby girl? You learn lots?" She doesn't answer, just hugs me and then gestures for me to put her back down so she can talk with a little blonde haired girl, one of her best friends. When I set her down, Agent Wilson steps forward with a smile.

"Agent Robbins." He greets. "Sofia was an angel as usual." Wilson says as his eyes beam at the tiny half Latina laughing her little butt off.

"Ms. Robbins?" A man calls from towards the school, making me look up.

"Special Agent Robbins." I correct the man out of habit.

"Of course, my apologies." He says. "Someone left this for you at the school's office." The guy hands over a manila envelope with just 'Robbins-Torres' written on the front in red marker. My gut immediately starts talking to me.

"Did they leave a name?" I ask the retreating man. He just shakes his head and gives me an apologetic look, then retreats back into the school. Casting a glance at the pair of little girls ten feet from me, I open the metal clasp then pull out the envelopes contents. When I see what it is, my heart drops and a cold sheen of sweat starts to erupt over my body. I flip through one, then another, then the last. Three large black and white photos invade my mind. And the scene pictured in them makes it even worse. It's me, with Sofia and Callie on our porch in front of our home. …these were taken just yesterday.

"Agent Robbins, are you alright?" Wilson asks when he sees the color drain from my face.

"No. Get Altman to my house, right now." I tell him, then turn to Sofia who is still chatting away with her friend. "Come on baby girl, we need to get home." It takes everything I have to make sure my very astute daughter doesn't pick up on how upset I am. The whole drive back, I keep glancing at the pictures that are now lying on the passenger's seat.

The pictures were taken from close range, meaning Sam was close. Close enough to take pictures. But she wasn't seen. She was able to get close enough to my family, to my home, without arousing suspicion. But that's not all. Drawn in red ink is a bullseye, and it's placed right over my head. If that's not a death threat, I don't know what is.

AN2: So Arizona is back on the hunt. Maybe this Knox guy will be the missing piece. And will Sam come back into play next chapter? Stay tuned to find out yall.