Arizona's POV
Damn, I am good! I thought to myself, putting the finishing touches to Callie's breakfast, warmed toasted bagel, bacon and maple syrup served with a hot steaming coffee – I knew what my girl liked. She was due back any minute, I knew Callie would get the all clear, she'd been so much better and I was astounded at the speed of her recovery. Hearing Callie's key turn in the lock I span around from the kitchen to greet her.
"Hey baby!" I called, as Callie entered the apartment, flinging her coat and bag down before collapsing on the sofa and letting out a long sigh, "Whoa, what's up?"
"Nothing." Callie stated bluntly, shaking her head.
"No, come on…is everything ok? Did the doctor say something?" I pressed, despite trying to keep calm my voice was ripe with concern.
Callie looked at me, before diverting her gaze around the room, "No, I've got the all clear…I'm fully recovered." She gave me a smile, although I could tell it took a great amount of force.
"That's good though, isn't it?" I continued, puzzled as to why she was acting so odd.
"Well yeah obviously." She snapped, running her fingers through her hair, "Sorry, I'm just tired…early start you know" she said, almost apologetically. "I'm going to go lay down."
Callie stood up and walked towards me, "But…I made breakfast for you." I said pathetically.
"I know, maybe I'll have it for lunch or something." She said softly, placing a kiss on my cheek.
"Callie, what's wrong?" I asked, grabbing her hand and pulling her towards me. She looked sad, as if something heavy was playing on her mind, she was here but not here – something was distracting her.
"Nothing…honestly…I'm fine." She grimaced, "I'll feel better once I've had a nap or something."
"Sure?" I asked, placing one hand on her waist and the other on the small of her back, my thumb finding her bare skin and grazing it lovingly.
"I'm fine…honestly." She smiled, pushing my hands down and wriggling away. "I'm going to sleep; will I see you when you're back from work?"
My eyes narrowed at Callie's words, everything she said just was just weird. "Well…yeah you'll be here and I'll come home to my apartment." I said.
Callie's eyes darted around the room – anywhere but me. "Well…I was thinking of going back to my apartment tonight." Her lips quivering as she spoke as if she was about to break at any moment. My heart sank at Callie's words, why would she want to go back? Was she not happy here anymore? Perhaps now she's all healed Callie doesn't need my help and wants go back to Sloan.
"Please…I just need to get some stuff and Mark wanted to hang out tonight, I figured it's probably easier if I stay there, save disturbing you tonight – especially as you've got work tomorrow." She continued quickly, before I had a chance to say anything.
"Er…yeah…sure…ok." I said, my voice cracking slightly despite my efforts, "So I'll probably be gone before you wake up from your nap then?"
"Yeah." Callie replied in a quiet voice, "I love you Arizona." She said softly, before disappearing into my bedroom.
That day at work, I couldn't concentrate. I was supposed to be marking test papers and reading up on the syllabus for the forthcoming semester but every single paper I marked just rolled into one massive blur. My head was buzzing, I couldn't work out what was wrong.
Arizona: Hey, Ted. I really need to talk to you about something, can I come over? Xx
Almost immediately, Teddy replied;
Teddy: Of course you can, do I need to provide booze? ;) xx
Arizona: Perhaps! I'll see you in 10? Xx
Teddy: Sure! Aren't you at work though? Xx
Arizona: Blowing it off, I can't focus :( xx
Teddy: Shit, sounds bad. I'll definitely get some wine out! Xx
Arizona: It's 11 in the morning Ted! Xx
"Hey!" Teddy beamed at me, opening the door, "How you doing?" she asked, pulling me into the biggest hug. When Teddy eventually let me go, we headed straight for the living room. My eyes were immediately drawn to the array of junk food and alcohol laid out on the coffee table.
"Wow, Ted! You really go all out don't you?" I grinned at my best friend as I felt a surge of gratefulness for her.
"Well, you text me saying you need to talk. What else do you expect me to do?" She said, flopping herself down on the sofa and gesturing me to do the same. Taking my cue from Teddy I flung myself down and crossed my arms letting out a long sigh.
"It's Callie." I began.
"Well I figured out that much!" Teddy said bluntly, reaching over and grabbing a handful of popcorn from the coffee table. "Things not going well?"
"Well, I don't know. Things are fine, or they were...I don't know..." I trailed off.
"Arizona, you're just saying words, non-sequential words that make no sense. Walk me through it..." She said, waving her hands to make her point.
"Ughhhh" I groaned, "OK well, we woke up this morning, everything was perfect and then Callie left to go to her appointment-"
"-appointment?" Teddy interjected her mouth full of popcorn.
"To check the antibiotics worked and she had the all clear." I said.
"And did she?" My best friend questioned.
"Yeah, but when she came back she was really off with me. She said she was tired but I could see something was on her mind"
"Perhaps she was just tired." Teddy attempted to reason, casually throwing popcorn into her mouth.
"Hmm" I said, screwing up my face and replaying the events of this morning in my head. "She's spending the night at Sloan's" I finished bluntly, my tone was almost defeated, saying those words, "I can't believe she'd want to spend the night at his. I mean clearly something wasn't right and shouldn't she be with me trying to fix it? Obviously if she needs to talk to him she should, but why tonight? After all this time she's spent at my apartment why would she go tonight?"
"Oh" Teddy said. I could tell she was stifling her reaction slightly.
"It's fine Ted, you don't have to hold back for me. I'm pretty pissed too!" I shot at her.
"Well…it is her apartment too; she does technically share it with Sloan. You need to chill out ok? I get why you're freaking out but Callie loves you, if there's anything wrong you'd be the first to know. Perhaps she just needed space, it doesn't mean she's gonna dump you!"
"I really hate you when you're right!" I grimaced at Teddy.
Teddy rolled her eyes, "Alright calm down Robbins!" She said sarcastically, "Help yourself to junk food; it'll make everything all better!" She joked, gesturing to the table.
"Ahhh, you're a bad influence!" I grinned. As I reached over to grab a handful of popcorn and several chocolate chip cookies, something caught my eye.
"These are pretty fancy Teddy, I never had you pinned as a diamond dangly earring kind of girl." I observed gesturing to a pair of designer earrings, sparkling in the midday sun, leaking in through the window.
"Oh." Teddy began, her cheeks flushing red, "They're mine Arizona." She said far too quickly that her words all jumbled into one. "Yeah…they…er…they were a present…" Teddy continued, her eyebrows raised as if caught off guard. There was definitely something weird going on. "Anyway…what are you going to do about Callie?" she said, clearly uncomfortable at the direction of conversation.
"I don't know, I'll just try and be there for her and hopefully she'll open up to me or it'll just pass…I just hope it's nothing serious." I said, sinking back into my chair.
"I'm sure it's not." Teddy said leaning forward, "Anyway, it's your birthday on Saturday, I'm sure she'll be over whatever it is by then." She continued hopefully, giving my leg a friendly thump, "Don't worry, I'm sure it's nothing life changing…I bet it's nothing!"
Teddy was wrong. She wasn't over it. Two whole days and everything was still super weird. Callie had clearly been avoiding me as much as possible despite my attempts to reassure I was here for her, whatever was going on inside her head. I was becoming seriously worried something was wrong with Callie, she'd been absolutely fine before her appointment. Although I felt almost hurt that she felt she couldn't open up to me about whatever it was, I was hoping that we could forget about it for just one night – my birthday! I'd been working from home most of the day and Callie had spent most of the day at Mark's place. This wasn't unusual for the days I worked from home, I wasn't much company anyway although having Callie spend so much time with Sloan, I couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable.
"What time are people getting to Joe's for baby?" I smiled at Callie, as she put the finishing touches to her makeup in the mirror. Before she had chance to answer, I snuck up behind her and gently wrapped my arms around her waist, nuzzling my head into her neck and began patterning her neck with soft, tender kisses. In the reflection, I could see Callie smiling in response as she leant into my embrace, weirdly enough it was the closest we'd been in days.
"About eight I think." Callie replied, "I really hope you have a good time tonight." She continued, her tone was one of sincerity – almost apologetic.
"Of course I will, I've got you, Teddy, Ads, even Mark." I grimaced, "No, really…why wouldn't I enjoy tonight?" I asked, pulling on my most comfortable heels.
"I don't know." She sighed, walking away from the mirror and sitting herself down next to me. "I just want you to have a good time, even if it's just you or Teddy…whatever…I don't know…" she trailed off, before resting her head on my shoulder.
"What's wrong baby?" I asked, turning around to look Callie in her beautiful dark eyes.
Before she answered, Callie frowned and let out a long, drawn out sigh, "Nothing, I think I'm just tired, I don't know how good company I'll be tonight and I want to be because it's your birthday and I don't want to ruin that." She continued, flopping her arms down across her chest.
"Hey." I began, curling a lock of hair around Callie's ear, "I promise we will have an awesome time tonight, once you get a drink in you, you'll be fine!" I grinned.
Callie's face screwed up in response, "Hmmm, yeah." She said, her eyes darting around the room. "Maybe." She had half – heartedly. Against my better judgement I didn't question Callie any further. Clearly she wasn't ready to tell me what was evidently wrong, yet I could see it was bothering her and felt bad for me.
"Callie, just relax ok? We will have a great time!" I reassured, softly grazing her knee, "Shit, come on! We better head off!" I exclaimed, checking my watch and realising I was already late for my own party. Callie stood up quickly, checking herself out in the mirror one last time, flattening her dress against her curves as she did so. "Hmmm" Callie sighed, a look of disgust on her face.
"By the way baby." I began, "You look incredible tonight!" I grinned flirtatiously at my girl.
Callie spun her head around towards me, "Really?" she said brightly, as if no one in the world had ever told her how beautiful she looked.
"Yeah." I replied honestly, not being able to tear my eyes away, "Definitely going to have to watch my back tonight!" I joked as I pulled on my jacket.
Callie smiled at me in response, although her eyes looked troubled, something was on her mind.
"Arizona?" She began, her eyes wide.
"Yeah?"
Callie took another deep breath, "Never mind" she finished, "Let's go"
"Hey!" Callie and I called out in unison as we saw Teddy, Addison and Mark propped up casually against the bar.
"Happy birthday!" They chorused together as a ménage of drinks were pushed in my direction.
"Get that down you Robbins!" Mark shouted, grinning at me as he handed me a tray of multi coloured shots. "And a vodka lemonade for you Callie?" He asked.
Her eyes widened momentarily, "Errrr...yeah...no...wait" she stuttered as Mark narrowed his eyes at her, "Well, I'll order myself...I'd like to buy my own girlfriend her first birthday drink." Callie said quickly, brushing past Mark and pushing her way to the bar.
"Is she ok?" Teddy whispered in my ear as she ushered us all over to a private booth. "Still acting a bit odd?"
"Hmmm, a little, but it's fine" I lied, "Come on Ted, help me with these shots!" As instructed, Teddy and I linked arms and polished off the entire tray between us.
"Ugh...fucking hell!" Teddy winced, as Addison came to join us and positioned herself next to Teddy on the opposite side of the table.
"Starting already Teddy?" Addison grinned, taking a large sip from her glass of wine.
Teddy looked at me and smirked before turning to look at Addison, "Yeah, it's my best friend's birthday, it's my duty!" She replied animatedly, flailing her hands around.
"Huh." Addison exhaled in a blunt fashion, "Just as long as you're not too drunk...you better be sober enough..." Addison, noticing I was fully engaged with this conversation that, apparently, had nothing to do with me, leant in towards Teddy so her lips were almost touching her ear. "I've got plans for-"
"-for?" I grinned. Addison had turned an alarming shade of red at the realisation I could still hear her and lip read.
"For tomorrow." She replied quickly, "We...have plans to study tomorrow..."
"It's the holidays...the new semester doesn't start for another month" I replied smugly, raising my eyebrows at them both.
"Well...er-"
"-Happy birthday baby!" Callie exclaimed, sitting herself down next to me, armed with several glorious looking cocktails.
"Ahhhh, thank you!" I beamed, giving my girlfriend a lingering kiss. "I love you."
"I love you too baby" She smiled at me, "Now come on, drink up!" She demanded, sitting down next to me.
1am. I was drunk. More than drunk. The world was spinning, my head was dizzy but I felt absolute euphoric. Mark had bailed on us around 12am, obviously he'd pulled in one of the many clubs we'd been to and taken her back to his. Teddy and Addison had also headed off so it was just Callie and I.
"Fuck I can't even see the fucking lock." I mumbled, attempting to unlock the door with my car key, before bursting into a fit of giggles.
"Oh my god!" Callie snapped playfully, snatching the key from my hands and opening the door.
"How'd you manage that?" I slurred, almost falling face first into the apartment if it wasn't for Callie catching me from behind, deftly placing her hands around my middle sending a wave of arousal through my drunken self.
"You're amazing baby." I beamed, stumbling into our bedroom and taking Callie's cheek in my hands.
"Right." Callie groaned sarcastically, "And it's because I'm not a drunken fool right now!" She joked in response to my question.
"Yeah...how?" I questioned, puzzled as I removed my jacket with great difficulty. "You were drinking like...all night...I never saw you without a drink in your hand at Joe's"
"I can handle my drink." She replied bluntly, raising an eyebrow at me, she looked so hot right now!
"Yeah...you looked really good tonight baby!" I said in a manner that was way more leery than intended. Callie shot me a sly, flirty smile as she undressed herself down to her matching bra and panties and climbed into bed. "Ohhh"
Quicker than I'd moved all night, I clumsily clambered on top of the bed and moved towards Callie, biting my lip in a way my drunken brain thought was sexy. Callie propped herself up onto the pillows, and eyed me with a mixture of disbelief and desire.
"Perhaps I can give you your next birthday present." She husked, pushing up her cleavage in an irresistible manner. Feeling a definite pressure in my core I leaned in, overcome with desire to taste Callie's lips, I could feel her warm breath, I closed my eyes in anticipation to feel her…
"Ughhh…oh…shit!" Callie cried, shooting across the room at lightning speed and heading for the bathroom.
"Callie, what's wrong?" I asked, following her and suddenly feeling a lot more sober. As I entered the bathroom, I was greeted with the sight of my girlfriend hanging over the toilet and slumped against the wall. "What's wrong?" I asked again, the shock of Callie rushing to the bathroom most definitely sobering me up, "You weren't drunk!" I said, concern washing over me.
"I'm fine." Callie said weakly. I knelt down beside her and began to rub soothing circles on the small of her back.
"What's going on Callie?" I asked, "You've been acting funny since the appointment and now you're slumped over a toilet! Are you ok? Did the doctor say anything?"
Callie sighed deeply, "I'm fine Arizona." She smiled wearily, "I'm ok now, I obviously was more drunk that I thought." She grimaced, "Help me back to bed?"
"Of course baby." I said, offering her my hand and helping her up. I placed my hand on her side, supporting her as she stumbled back to bed.
"Do you need anything?" I asked her, still not entirely convinced.
"Just you baby." She replied sincerely, pulling the duvet over her – I could see she was shivering slightly.
"No seriously!" I smiled at her.
"I was being serious. Just you Arizona."
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