Thanks again to those of you who take the time to leave a review. I really do appreciate it. Thanks also to Maaike83 for the tip about Grammarly which I have used for the first time. I hope this means fewer errors.

-Shit. Think Torres Think! Callie ran through possible scenarios in her head and the only logical one was that she had to leave London.

Whilst she could come up with an excuse for some rumour on a soccer forum that had a few thousand followers, but a story in the National Enquirer AND the LA Times would be harder to explain.

Callie pictured her mother reading it and how upset she would be. If this story was about to break then Callie needed to go and talk to her parents BEFORE they heard about it from someone else. She had no idea what she was going to say, but she would figure that out.

First thing first, she needed to get home.

She called Stacey

"Hey, Cal. How did the interview go?" Stacey asked her friend and client.

Callie responded "I need you to trigger my release clause. I need to come home ASAP!"

—

Wednesday

Arizona was in the canteen having lunch with Becky when she saw Sam heading her way with a serious look on her face.

"Have you heard?" She asked the blonde Arizona had just taken a mouth full of pasta salad and shook her head as she chewed finally responding "heard what?" as she tucked back in for another mouthful.

"Torres is leaving" Sam added and looked at her friend.

"Well, it was only ever a loan" Becky replied, taking a bite of her sandwich, unsure why Sam was being so melodramatic.

Arizona on the other knew exactly why Sam had sought her out as soon as she had heard the news.

"She's leaving now!" Sam said to Becky confirming Arizona's fears "as in, came in this morning and cleared her locker out before anyone had turned up for work, now".

Arizona remained silent as she processed the news. Wow, the American really was running away this time!

"Are you sure?" Becky asked

"Yeah 100%. Susie in HR told Dave at reception to expect her this morning. Apparently, her agent rang up and triggered an early release clause due to 'personal reasons'" Sam said using her fingers for inverted commas when she said personal reasons and rolling her eyes at her boss.

"Once a drama Queen, always a drama queen!" Sam added.

"Crap. We were just starting to get good!" Becky added.

Arizona shot Sam a look as she stood up and grabbed her stuff off the back of her chair. "I umm, I need you to cover for me this afternoon...sorry I have to go somewhere...is that umm, is that OK?" Arizona asked as she looked at her fellow physios.

"Of course boss" Becky replied still completely unaware of what this news really meant to Arizona.

Sam on the other was fully aware of where Arizona was going and nodded in agreement, whilst giving her friend a 'be careful' look.

—-

"Hey, Torres!" Jess said down the phone "I'm driving so can't use face time. How was the rest of your weekend away?"

"I'm leaving Jess. I'm flying back home tomorrow afternoon." Callie came out and told her friend.

"Wait. What?" Jess replied confused and shocked by the news.

"I'm pulling the release clause in the contract and going back home to Florida," Callie explained.

"But what about Arizona?" Jess asked.

"It's because of her I'm leaving!" Callie responded "The fucking National Enquirer is running a story about me having a Lesbian Lover" Callie explained

"Shit!" Jess said at the bad news.

"It gets worse...the LA Times asked me about the rumours."

"Holy crap." Jess flicked on her indicator and pulled over and clicked on the camera so she could give her friend the full attention.

"Jess I have to ask...did you tell anyone? About Arizona and me?" Callie felt bad asking the question, but she wanted to know how the press found out. They had always been super careful.

Jess swallowed a lump that had formed in her throat and slowly nodded her head before she started explaining in a panic voice.

"I'm sorry Cal..I'd had too much to wine.." Jess was interrupted.

"Fuck Jess! " Callie said down the phone "who was it? Who did you tell?"

"Oh man...I am soo sorry Callie...I was drunk and pissed at you for not liking me that way and I may have let slip to Jules." Jess confessed

"Orlando Jules?" Callie said in disbelief "Jess you know she fucking hates my guts, no wonder she went running to the enquirer." Callie said angrily at what their fellow soccer player had done. Jules had had it in for Callie for year's, going back to college days. Apparently, Jules had the hots for some guy who was hung up on Callie.

"I ummm I wasn't thinking, we were face-timing and she caught me off guard and asked if anything was going on between the two of us. I had said something along the lines of I wish, but she's screwing her physio." Jess winced as she recalled the conversation.

"Fuck Jess!" Callie said annoyed at how the information had been shared. "And you didn't think to tell me because?" Callie asked.

"I know, I'm sorry...I should have said something, but I just didn't think she would say anything. You wait until I see her next" Jess said.

"No don't say anything, it's only going to make it worst. I'll tell Stacey and see if we can threaten her with libel of something and get her to retract it." Callie explained, "the main thing is I can talk to my parents before any of this comes out."

"Shit, Callie I am so sorry. I hope you know I didn't do this deliberately?" Jess asked

Callie looked at her friend and nodded, she knew Jess wasn't mean that way.

Just then the doorbell rang and Callie headed to answer the door.

—-

As Arizona drove over to Callie's she tried to work out what it was she wanted to say to the brunette.

Deep down she had hoped that after a few days, the American would have cooled off. She had secretly hoped that Callie would have missed her they would have amazing makeup sex.

However, the longer it had gone on the more worried Arizona had become. They had become close quickly and Arizona felt she had opened herself up so much to Callie, but now was crunch time.

Did she open up more or protect herself from getting hurt again. She had already let her guard down way more than she had intended to. But she had been unable to resist the American's charm.

She pictured the brunette and the looks they used to exchange when they were alone. She remembered the feeling of Callie's lips on her neck, remembered the sound of her laugh and that traffic-stopping smile. The blonde took a deep breath and tried to get the naked image of Callie that had appeared out of her mind. That wasn't helpful right now.

"Focus Robbins...Focus!" Arizona said out loud to herself.

If she was going to open herself up further, she needed to see that Callie felt the same way about her first. If the striker was going back to the States then that was her answer.

Ten minutes later and Arizona was standing outside Callie's door waiting for the brunette to answer it.

"Is it true?" Arizona asked as the American opened the door.

Callie was on the phone when she opened the door, her eyes widening when she saw Arizona standing on her doorstep, quickly ending the call, telling the person on the other end that she would call them back.

"Arizona." Callie said softly at the sight of the blonde physio "Will you come in?" Callie said stepping aside and holding the door open.

Arizona didn't move. Even if she had wanted to, she couldn't. She found herself rooted to the spot instead she just repeated the question

"Is it true?"

Callie saw the pain in those blue orbs and hated herself for this whole mess. She didn't want to cause the Brit any more harm but at the same time, she couldn't risk the story coming out and the hurt it would cause her parents.

Callie's heart was racing as she stared at the blonde physio. She opened her mouth to respond, but no words came out, instead, she just nodded her head.

Arizona felt her throat tighten with emotion. "Right...so that's it then?" Arizona said as she searched Callie's face for some clue as to how she was feeling.

She was determined not to cry in front of the American.

Callie wanted to pull the Brit into her arms and hold her tightly and tell her how much she meant to her, but what was the point?

Callie wasn't ready to be the kind of girlfriend Arizona needed, hell she wasn't ready to be a girlfriend of any type!

The blonde had helped her discover something new about herself, but whilst the brunette loved spending time with Arizona, loved how the blonde made her feel, it was clear to Callie after their fight in Deal that she wasn't OK with her newly found sexuality.

"I'm sorry Arizona" Callie finally managed to speak as she held the blonde's gaze. She really was sorry. She had never meant for things to go this way, but she couldn't let her parents down.

She was leaving to try and save her relationship with her parents, even if it meant ending the one with Arizona.

Arizona closed her eyes and tried to pull back in the tears that had formed. Less than a week ago Callie had said she was falling in love with her, but now it was clear that the American had been lying.

The blonde had seen enough and turned and walked back to her car. Callie wanted to go after her and kiss her for one last time, to tell her she had meant every word she had said about falling in love.

Tell Arizona that she would never forget her...but she didn't. She stood at her doorway and watched the Brit drive away

—-

Two weeks later - Christmas Day

Arizona was slumped in her armchair in front of a roaring fire and couldn't help but smile as she looked over to the sofa where her parents were both fast asleep after their mammoth Christmas dinner.

Arizona had offered to host the dinner at hers as it would give her something to do. When there was no football she sometimes struggled to relax and having a dinner to plan for and cook was a perfect distraction.

Arizona was close to nodding off herself when her phone buzzed and she reached into her pocket to see who was messaging her. She had expected a Merry Christmas message from one of her friends but had nearly dropped her phone when she saw who it was from.

Callie Torres. Callie had texted her on Christmas Day.

It was the first communication since Callie had flown back to Florida and Arizona contemplated deleting the message without even opening it, however, curiosity got the better of her as she clicked on the message and opened the attached file.

Arizona smiled as a photo of a teenager Callie dressed in full-on skater gear appeared on her screen. The American was wearing big baggy jeans, scuffed Vans a plaid shirt over an Avril Lavigne tee.

The brunette was posing to the camera, her beloved skateboard in one hand as she gave a 'rock on' sign with the other. Arizona couldn't help but laugh at the photo as she looked at the moody teenager.

The caption simple said Surely I must be a 9 now? C xx referring to their conversation on the drive down to Deal where Arizona had said she wanted photographs evidence that Callie had been a skater.

She clicked on the second file which seemed to be an audio file. Blink 182 I Miss You started playing out of Arizona's file causing her mum to wake up from her nap.

The blonde quickly pressed pause and closed the message. "Sorry, mum. I didn't mean to wake you" Arizona apologised slightly flustered by the sentiment of the song and if Callie meant it.

"Oh I wasn't really sleeping love... just resting my eyes!" Jan replied as she sat up and smiled at her daughter.

"Mum you were snoring!" Arizona laughed.

"I was not!" Jan said offended by the accusation. "That must have been your father," she said prodding her husband in the leg

"Hmm what...what did I do now?" David said as he jolted awake.

"Nothing Dad" Arizona smiled warmly at her father "you go back to your snooze."

"Oh, I wasn't sleeping...I was just...you know...resting my eyes" David replied, puzzled why his comment made his wife and daughter burst into a fit of laughter.

—

Arizona decided she needed some fresh air and so offered to take Monty the whippet for a walk. David and Jan offered to come with her, but she wanted some time alone.

Over lunch, her mum had tried to ask subtle questions about her love life and if she had heard from Callie, but Arizona had refused to answer.

After Callie had triggered her release clause in her contract and flown home on her dads private jet, the blonde had spent the next couple of days feeling sorry for herself, before deciding that it had probably been a good thing in the long-term.

Arizona believed in fate and in this case Callie and her were not meant to be.

The text message from Callie had therefore thrown Arizona off guard. Arizona missed talking to the brunette. Missed those big brown eyes and that playful way she would raise her eyebrow that did all sorts of things to Arizona down below.

As she walked down the seafront she took a selfie with Monty and considered sending it to the American wishing her a Merry Christmas, but decided what good would it do?

Callie was back in the States now and Arizona's life was here in the UK.

Whilst Callie had made a big impression on Arizona, there were just too many obstacles in their way...obstacles that once Arizona would have said they could have cleared no problem, but now...well now the obstacles seemed to have merged to form a solid roadblock that no one was passing.

—-

Stick with me here...you know I'm all about Calzona.

Arizona is going to put those walls up even higher now and what will happen to Callie when she is back home? Will she push her sexuality down deeper, or take some time to reflect and come to terms with her feelings?

Let me know what you think.

So in England, we can now meet up to six people outside - I'm happy about this, but I'm also scared at the pictures of people ignoring the rules.

I hope everyone is staying safe and well where you are right now. Take care. Sarah X