A/N: Update number 4 - in which I finally give you some Callie/Arizona interaction! I hope you enjoy it, I had fun writing this one I can't lie.
Thanks again for the lovely feedback, its so nice to hear peoples thoughts and comments on the story so far and where its going to go, I love hearing what you all think!
Happy Sunday and I hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: none of these characters are mine, they all belong to Shonda Rhimes, I'm just borrowing them and making them do what I want for the sake of my fic.
From: iloveunicorns115 hotmaildotcom
To: cit107 hotmaildotcom
Hi GBO!
For starters, I'd like to say that there is nothing wrong with liking unicorns (not that I still do, by the way, it is important to me that you know that), and although I'm a little put out that you did laugh when you said you wouldn't, I'll let it slide. And fyi I was more into Polly Pocket than My Little Pony.
As for your email address, it is considerably more normal, and I kind of wish I had made mine more like yours rather than letting my brother convince me that eternally being known as the girl that loves unicorns will never be embarrassing. I guess I could just make a new account, but that would mean I have to change my address for every email-linked service, and I really can't be bothered to do that. I'd rather just stick with being the unicorn girl.
May I ask what CIT stands for if it does indeed stand for something? I know, I'm being nosy, but I can't help it – I am a naturally curious person. I blame it on the med student thing – you have to be, to get to the bottom of someone's diagnosis!
I can't thank you enough for sending me this recipe! I have great plans for tomorrow night that involve enchiladas, a bottle of wine and a terrible movie. I'm actually kind of glad I didn't end up making them for my friends in the end, as it means more for me! You are truly a lifesaver, and also quite possibly my favourite person in the entire world, even though I know nothing about you, other than the fact that you are a god(dess?) in the kitchen. I think I love you more than my own parents for sending me this recipe. And before you call me weird, my heart is in my stomach, and I won't apologise for it.
As for me being fab, I can assure you that you are the only fab one here. I only leave comments because your blog is so very deserving of it – you put in all of the efforts, I just get to enjoy the outcome. I am glad that my feedback makes you happy though, someone like you deserves to know how great you are!
I am going to end this email now before I come across as a complete creep, I swear I'm not normally this much of a kiss-ass.
I hope you have a wonderful weekend,
From an enterally grateful hungry med student :)
Arizona had clicked send on her reply to the blog owner/CIT/who-knew-what-their-name-was, before beginning to get ready for her evening. It was her second date with a girl she'd met through a friend, and she was nice. Attractive, sure, and she was interesting enough to talk to, if not slightly boring. Arizona couldn't remember what she'd said she was studying, but their first date had been good enough for her to agree to a second, if not in part to please their mutual friend who had been so certain they'd be a good match.
And the second date had been good. They'd had drinks and flirted and danced together and Arizona had even ended up taking her home afterwards. Overall, it had been nice. Easy. Granted there hadn't necessarily been a spark, no fireworks, at least not on Arizona's end - Megan had definitely seemed very interested. If Arizona was honest, she hadn't felt any particularly overwhelming feelings towards anyone she'd dated since things had ended with her ex half a year ago. But even so, it was a decent night.
Well, it had been, until Arizona had spotted a certain Latina sat at the bar, opposite her very drunk looking friend, looking criminally attractive in her staple leather jacket and beat up docs, chin resting on her hand and brow furrowed slightly as she listened to the inebriated redhead talk about whatever she was talking about. And just seeing her there had annoyed Arizona – she just wanted to have a nice evening with a nice girl without being reminded of her incredibly irritating neighbour. Her annoyingly hot incredibly irritating neighbour.
She had focused all of her efforts on enjoying her night, regardless of the woman that kept glancing over at her table and throwing annoyed glares in her direction. Or was she glaring at her date? Arizona couldn't tell. Either way, it was just plain rude. She knew that Callie hated her, but to so obviously spend so much of her evening shooting death glares in her direction when she was clearly on a date? That was just weird, and enough to make anyone mad.
Callie had left eventually, practically carrying her friend out of the bar, which Arizona couldn't help but smirk at – she hoped Addison vomited all over her beloved boots.
After that, she'd been able to relax a little. She was still slightly more on edge than she had been before she noticed the Latina, but her absence was enough for Arizona to finally let go and just enjoy her night.
Which was how she ended up where she was now. It was just past seven am, and she'd just shown her date out, heels in hand, with the promise of another night out soon. Whether she'd follow through with that, she was yet to decide.
She was currently lying on her bed, staring at the ceiling, trying to decide which she wanted more – coffee or exercise. Whilst she hadn't had too much to drink last night, her head still ached, her stomach was slightly queasy, and her body was sore from the activities that took place into the early hours of the morning.
So, she needed to shift how she was feeling before she could get on with her day. And for some reason that she couldn't explain - and that made all of her friends hate her - Arizona had found that her best hangover cure was a long run. Or at least some amount of exercise. She just needed to sweat it out, to work off all of the shit she'd put in her body the night before. What the physiological basis of this was, she wasn't entirely sure. She just had to get up early, run as far as her legs would carry her, and then down a litre of water and she was good to go.
This morning was no different. She'd woken up early, and after saying a quick goodbye to the brunette she'd spent the night before with, she donned her workout gear and had started to tie the laces of her trainers.
That was when it had started raining. Which kind of put a dent in her plans.
Because it wasn't just a gentle shower, the kind that could be ignored or shielded with a thin coat or an umbrella.
No. It was the kind of rain that blinded you, that had you soaked through to your skin in seconds flat, no matter how many layers you were wearing. The kind of rain that you'd be truly stupid to go for a run in, no matter how desperately hungover you were.
Arizona groaned, and then sighed. And then groaned again. This was definitely not ideal. Her head hurt and her body ached, and she just wanted to get herself back in gear so that she could continue on with her day. And this was definitely not helping.
She was momentarily hit with a wave of guilt over her date, who had left the apartment in only the dress she'd been wearing the night before. Hopefully, she'd gotten a cab home. Or maybe she lived close.
But the guilt didn't last very long - it wasn't like it was Arizona's fault. She couldn't control the weather. Although right now she wished she could, as what she needed was a nice clear day, maybe a bit of sun to warm her up as she ran.
Instead, she was stuck staring out of her bedroom window, barely able to make out the pavement below the apartment block through the thick curtain of rainfall. It was so heavy that all she could see was a grey sheet of water a foot in front of the glass, a dull roar greeting her ears as the hundreds of thousands of individual droplets smashed onto the ground below.
The blonde allowed herself a moment of moping, before resigning herself to the fact that she was now stuck inside, no matter how much she wished she wasn't. She was just going to have to make the best of it.
Plugging her phone into her speaker system, she picked something upbeat and stretched out her limbs, before settling into a fast-paced on-the-spot jog.
After about 2 minutes, she stopped jogging and began to cycle through her list of home-cardio exercises, finding after about 5 minutes that she was building up a nice sweat, her heart racing and her breathing heavy. That was good. That was how she needed to feel, to work the night out of her system.
Momentarily she thought of the Latina in the room below, who Arizona recalled had been a bit wobbly herself as she'd dragged Addison out of the bar the night before. She felt a little guilty for a second - this would definitely not be a pleasant wake-up, and it was really quite early. Arizona knew from past experience that Callie was not a morning person, a fact that she regularly utilised to piss off the brunette. But this was particularly mean, seeing as Callie hadn't done anything that bad in a while.
Then Arizona remembered the way she'd been staring at her the night before, and the guilt was quickly replaced with smug pride. Screw Callie. She hoped that she had woken her up and that the rhythmic sound of her footfall made her head pound harder.
Arizona was snatched from her thoughts by a loud banging on the front door. It sounded like someone was beating their fist against the wood. Hard.
Speak of the devil. Or, think of the devil, she supposed.
The blonde opened the door into the rest of the apartment, turning her music off on the way out, catching her breath as she mentally prepared herself for what was waiting for her in the corridor.
The banging continued. She could hear Alex fumbling around in his room, followed by a thud, a low groan and a muffled "R-zona! Make it stop!"
She sighed, and then headed over to the entrance to their apartment.
"Robbins! You'd better open this goddamn door, or I swear to god!-"
Arizona swung the wooden panel open before Callie could finish her sentence.
The sight before her would have been enough to make her laugh out loud if she hadn't forced her face to stay straight.
Callie was standing in front of her in a pair of wrinkled joggers and a jumper that she'd clearly put on back-to-front in her haste. Her feet were bare, which was a bold choice considering how irregularly stairwells were cleaned, and her hair looked like it had maybe been tied up at some point but had mostly fallen out in her sleep, now hanging tousled and messy around her face. Her face that was carrying an expression that could only be best described as sleepy rage. She was squinting and her cheeks were flushed, yet she looked mad. Although half-closed, her warm brown eyes were burning with anger that was plain for anyone to see. She looked madder than Arizona had maybe ever seen her, and she had seen her very mad.
There was a small part of Arizona's brain that piped up with a comment about how she still looked good like this, but the rest of her mind pushed that thought down.
Her fist was still raised mid-knock, and she looked slightly startled from the suddenness with which the door had been opened.
Arizona could have sworn she saw Callie's eyes flicker downwards for a second. She suddenly clocked that she was only wearing a sports bra and shorts, and she was also very sweaty. She internally berated herself for not having grabbed a jumper herself before answering the door, she must look a mess – she could feel how red her face was. Callie clearly agreed, based on the way that her eyes rapidly flicked back to the blonde's face, her own cheeks reddening a little.
Oh well. Nothing she could do now.
"Good morning Callie," she said sweetly, taking advantage of the momentary pause. "To what do I owe this pleasure?" She plastered a smile across her face and watched as the brunette's stalled, spluttering slightly.
"Ok, first of all, princess, do I look like I'm happy to be here?" Callie spat, her tone laced with so much venom Arizona almost found her taken aback for a second. "There is nothing, and I mean nothing about this morning that has been good. Do you know whose fault that is?"
"I wouldn't know what you're talking about." Arizona kept her tone light, enjoying how it wound Callie up even more. She'd really learnt what pushed the brunette's buttons, and she utilised that fact regularly.
"Right, so it's not you jumping up and down so hard that I can feel my bed shaking?" Callie's voice was dripping with sarcasm. "And what about the unspeakably loud sex noises I was forced to listen to last night? That not you either?"
Ok so, the second part of her statement caught Arizona off guard. The brunette had never raised this before.
Although she supposed, if she herself could hear something as quiet as a mid-volume film playing in the room below then she guessed it made sense that she'd overheard her having sex. Her date had been a particularly loud last night.
Arizona could feel her cheeks heat slightly, although it was probably covered by the fact that her face was already red from the exercise, for which she was grateful. She managed to keep her expression the same, and shrugged once as if to say, 'and what about it?'.
"Seriously were you killing that girl?" Callie quipped. It didn't skip the blonde's notice that the Latina seemed a little uncomfortable in discussing this topic, which maybe explained why she'd never brought it up before.
Well, if Callie was prudish, that was her problem.
Arizona smirked, raising her hands in mock surrender. "I mean, what can I say? There were no complaints on her end…."
This clearly did not impress Callie, whose eyes widened, cheeks seeming to get impossibly redder.
"Yeah, well there are plenty of complaints from me, the person that had to listen to it when they should have been sleeping!"
"This may come as a surprise to you Callie, but I actually wasn't thinking about you whilst I was fucking a girl in my bed," Arizona said, enjoying the way the brunette's expression grew more uncomfortable at the crude imagery. And whilst that was technically a lie, as the Latina had maybe flashed through Arizona's mind once or twice the night before, it was only because she was still frustrated with how she'd acted towards her in the bar. And she definitely wasn't going to tell her that.
"You are unbelievable!" Callie exclaimed, visibly flustered at this point, which Arizona found herself enjoying. "So, what, you decided that you hadn't had enough exercise and thought that it would be a fun idea to wake up the entire building at seven am?" She gestured to the blonde's attire. "Why are you even awake? Did you even get any sleep?" Arizona could hear genuine confusion underneath the anger that laced Callie's tone.
"I'm a morning person," Arizona said by way of explanation.
"Ok but it's literally seven. On a Saturday. It's barely light outside. Most normal people, like all of the other residents of this building, like to be asleep at this time." Callie raised her eyebrows, "Do you actually think at all before you do anything, or do you lack any fundamental ability to reason? Is there just air behind your pretty little blue eyes?"
Whilst technically Callie had just complimented her, and, coming from the Latina, that wasn't something that the blonde would usually take lightly, she had somehow managed to make the statement sound like an insult. And this in and of itself would normally have impressed Arizona if it didn't sting just slightly.
"I like to exercise when I'm hungover." It was a pathetic response to the particularly rude insult that Callie had thrown her way, but she'd been caught slightly off guard.
"That's not normal."
"I find it helps to get rid of the headache – to just sweat it out."
"I really couldn't care less about your morning routine Cinderella. Except when it's waking me up at seven. A. M.," Callie punctuated the words, her expressive brown eyes filled with what could only be described as resentment.
"Ok well I normally go for a run, but I'm not sure whether you've taken the time to look out of the window today? I'd probably break my neck going out in that." Arizona gestured to the window, frustration kicking the longer she stood there listening to Callie's harsh words.
Callie mumbled something under her breath that sounded like 'maybe then I'd finally get some peace'.
"What was that?" Arizona asked, starting to get genuinely irritated.
The brunette just ignored her question, shooting an angry glare in her direction.
"I need you to stop making so much noise above my bed and I need you to do it now! Because my head fucking hurts and you are making it a million times worse!" She was practically yelling at this point.
"And why would I do that?"
Callie's face grew stern.
"Because if you don't, I will take my foot, and I will shove it so far up your ass you'll feel it in your throat."
Arizona giggled.
"You think I'm joking?" Callie asked, her voice suddenly lower and completely calm. She took a step closer to the blonde and glared down at her, their height difference now more pronounced. "Because I'm not. I could wipe the floor with you. And I will if you don't shut the fuck up."
This was new. The Latina had never actually threatened physical violence before. At least, not in a way that had ever Arizona believe she'd actually hurt her.
The blonde swallowed, mildly intimidated, and very frustrated that she was more than a little turned on by Callie's cool but powerful demeanour. The way that the woman was looking at her, eyes dark and glowing with anger made Arizona's stomach do flips and her palms begin to grow clammy in a way that wasn't entirely unpleasant.
She swallowed hard. Now was not the time.
"What do you suggest I do instead then?" she said, voice slightly shakier than she intended. Damn it, she couldn't lose her edge now!
"I don't know, wait until a suitable hour? Or work out in the living room? There's no one underneath there for you to piss off."
"I'd wake Alex."
"Oh, so you care about Alex's sleep routine, just not mine. And here I thought you were heartless." Callie's voice was dripping with sarcasm and mirth as she glared down at her.
"Well yeah, I actually like him," Arizona quipped, narrowing her eyes in response, a lot of effort going into keeping her cool.
"He's an ass!" Callie exclaimed.
"You're more of an ass," Arizona countered.
"How would you know? You've only ever seen me pissed off."
"Oh yeah. I'm sure that deep down, somewhere underneath the person that physically threatens people in their own homes, there is a gentlewoman," Arizona drawled, tone laced with sarcasm.
"Well, I'm sure that deep down you're still a self-centred stuck-up princess," Callie responded quickly.
Arizona really hated it when the brunette called her a princess, and she did it a lot. She didn't consider herself to be selfish and demanding. Slightly stubborn and a little petty at times? Sure. But a princess? That felt like an attack on her character that wasn't warranted.
Not that she'd ever admit this to Callie.
"And I only threaten people that deserve it," the Latina continued.
"Deserve to be threatened, or beaten up?" Arizona questioned, genuinely angry herself now.
"Both"
"Well ok then." Arizona, deciding that she'd had enough, injected a perkiness into her voice whilst still keeping her tone cold. "I must say you are truly a delight in the mornings. And whilst this has been lovely, I don't really want to talk to you anymore."
"The feeling is mutual, Rapunzel."
"You know that's not really an insult."
"It is if I want it to be, Barbie."
"That's not even a Disney character."
"I don't give a fuck," Callie spat, raising her voice again. The hot-headed woman could clearly only keep a cool demeanour for so long. Arizona was grateful – she wasn't sure how much longer she'd be able to deal with the brunette looking at her like that. "Just stop making so much damn noise, or I will hurt you!" Her tone made it very clear that she wasn't joking.
"Have a nice day Callie," Arizona smiled sweetly, before slamming the door shut in the Latina's face, more than a little riled up and very frustrated that the brunette had managed to make her feel such a potent cocktail of anger and arousal so damned easily.
Spinning on her heel, she turned back to face the living room, taking a deep breath to calm herself. God that woman was so rude! And whilst maybe her anger was justified, Arizona wasn't really sure what kind of a compromise there was to be made. If she wanted to have a girl over then she was damn well going to do it regardless of who was sleeping downstairs, and it was hardly like it was her fault that the rain had stopped her from going for a run this morning. The situation was a complete stalemate.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the bedroom door across from her own swing open to reveal a topless Alex, who had a smug grin plastered across his face.
"Whilst I am totally against being awake this early, that was very entertaining to listen to," he smirked. "She kind of handed your ass to you dude."
"Shut up Alex," Arizona muttered, throwing him an unimpressed glare.
Looking out of the window she noticed that the rain had stopped. Maybe she'd wait half an hour or so for the pavements to dry a little, and then go for her run after all.
Turning on her heel, she started to head towards the kitchen. She needed a coffee and a moment to breathe.
"Wait, are you giving in?" Alex asked incredulously when he noticed that the blonde wasn't going back into her room.
Arizona narrowed her eyes at him.
"Oh my god, you are! You're stopping because she told you to!" He laughed. "You're actually scared she's gonna hurt you, aren't you?!"
"No!" Arizona exclaimed, her anger bubbling closer to the surface. She took a breath. "I am not scared of Callie Torres!"
Alex raised his eyebrows and laughed again.
"I could take her if I wanted to, easy!" Arizona could feel her voice getting higher and she was beginning to sound flustered, which was definitely not helping her case.
"No offence Robbins but you absolutely could not."
"I so could!" Arizona squeaked. "I don't need height and combat boots! I'm quick! I'd catch her off guard!"
"Ok, so go and do more jumping jacks or whatever in your room then," Alex challenged. "Prove that you could take her one-on-one. I want to watch."
"The rain has stopped. I'll just wait a little bit and then go for a run like I originally planned," Arizona replied, keeping her voice calm.
"You are scared of Torres! This is hilarious!" Alex exclaimed.
"You know what, she was right – you are an ass. Go put a shirt on," Arizona shot back before heading into the kitchen, ignoring the laughter that was coming from the shared living space as Alex's bedroom door closed again.
Grabbing a mug from the cupboard, Arizona tried to calm the irritation that was clouding her mind.
She wasn't backing down because she was scared. She wasn't backing down at all, she was simply reverting back to her original plan for the morning now that it was feasible again. That was it. Callie didn't scare Arizona.
Granted, there was definitely a cool anger in her brown eyes that the blonde had never seen before, and which had intimidated her a little at the time. But that was only because it was so unexpected. She was not scared of Callie. Her father had taught her to throw a punch – something she'd had to utilise on more than one occasion as a child in self-defence against bullies that thought her name was hilarious. She could definitely take Callie in a fight. She just didn't particularly want to fight the brunette. She was annoying as hell, sure, but Arizona wasn't a violent person.
That, and the lack of rain, were the only reasons that she was 'backing down' as Alex had put it. Callie hadn't 'won', Arizona was just adjusting her plans because it was the most practical thing to do. For all parties involved.
She found herself repeating these notions to herself over and over as she brewed herself a strong cup of coffee and headed back into her bedroom. Because they were true.
Let it be known, Arizona Robbins was not scared of Callie Torres.
She was midway through pulling on a sweater when she heard her phone buzz, tugging her out of her thoughts and back into the present. Glancing down at the device on her bed, she saw that it was an email from the blog owner.
For the first time since she'd woken up this morning, Arizona found herself genuinely smiling, and the tension that she felt holding all of her muscles tight eased a little, the anger subsiding with it.
Grabbing her laptop, she opened her email account.
See, she wasn't the only one who liked to be up early, Arizona thought to herself. Callie could go suck it. Not everyone needed to sleep until midday to be a functional human being.
From: cit107 hotmaildotcom
To: iloveunicorns115 hotmaildotcom
Hi Hungry Med Student (or should I say Unicorn Girl),
I would like it to be known that I never said there was anything wrong with liking unicorns. I also would like to add that I never swore I wouldn't laugh at your email address, in fact, I distinctly recall saying that I wouldn't promise not to laugh. So actually, you were pre-warned.
As for toys as a kid, I was one of those girls that played with standard baby dolls, which is terribly boring but what can I say. I did also have one of those fake kitchens with all of the plastic food, so maybe I was destined to end up enjoying cooking. That or my parents were trying to brainwash me into becoming the perfect housewife.
You may ask what CIT stands for, however it doesn't mean I'm going to tell you! I will let you know that it is my initials, but that's all you're getting. Whilst we have exchanged a fair amount of amusing comments, you are still technically a stranger on the internet – how do I know you're not an identity thief or a serial killer, and this is all an elaborate ruse to get my information?
Whilst I won't give away my name (although you can call me C if you like), I do feel bad not telling you anything about me (other than the fact that I played with dolls) when you've been kind of open with me. So, in exchange, here is a piece of information that I have never shared on my page: I am also a med student, which is kind of why I enjoy your comments so much – we are of the same kind! Do what you will with that knowledge.
As for the recipe, you are more than welcome. And whilst maybe you are a little bit of a kiss-ass, I don't mind in the slightest. I'm not even going to try and pretend that I don't enjoy being complimented (although maybe goddess is pushing it a little).
I hope you enjoy your date night with my enchilada recipe! Let me know how it goes, I hope that my draft version is legible!
C/GBO/fellow hungry med student (I haven't had breakfast yet!) :)
By the end of the email Arizona had a big grin spread across her cheeks, and the anger she felt from her confrontation with Callie had all but gone. What was it about this stranger that made her feel so happy? She knew hardly anything about the person.
On this note, she found herself gathering up what little information she had learnt about the mysterious GBO:
One: she was a girl. Arizona was basing this off of the fact that she had said as much in the most recent email, which she thought had probably been explicit enough for her to make the assumption. She'd keep an open mind though – she could be wrong.
Two: her full initials were CIT, but she'd go by C. What C stood for Arizona had no idea, it could be anything. Caitlin? Charlotte? Clara? Courtney? She decided not to bother guessing, there was no way she'd find out anyway – C had made that clear in her email.
Three: she was also a med student, which was something Arizona found herself more excited about than really made sense. There was just something about the fact that they had even more in common than their shared love for C's blog page that made her feel good. It was irrational – C was a complete stranger, but she was a stranger that Arizona looked up to, as she had essentially taught her to cook from scratch. The fact that C was also a med student and not only that, a med student that apparently wanted to continue to talk to Arizona, well. That was more than enough reason for her to get excited.
Arizona opened up a new email and was about to start typing an immediate reply before she remembered that C had asked her to let her know how making her recipe goes, which, it being not even 8 am, was something that she hadn't done yet.
Sighing, she closed her laptop, glancing out of the window and deciding that now was probably dry enough for her to head out on her run. She re-tied her laces and grabbed her headphones, before exiting the room and heading out into the cold.