Two weeks later
A fortnight after the Olympics had ended and Arizona was suffering from post tournament blues. As much as Arizona was happy with her own company, having spent the past six weeks surrounded by people, it was always strange to then be on your own.
Once back from Tokyo she had headed down to Deal for a couple of weeks to catch up with her parents and spend time recharging her batteries.
One weekend she had caught the train up to Edinburgh to visit Niamh who lived and taught in the city. By day she was a psychology academic at the university and worked part time with the Scottish national football and hockey teams.
Niamh had been waiting for the physio as the train pulled into the station, and Arizona couldn't help the broad smile that formed on her face as she spotted the green eyed beauty in the crowd.
"Hi" Arizona had said a little awkwardly
"Hi" Niamh replied as they hesitated unsure of what was an appropriate greeting to someone you've been flirting with a lot, but hadn't actually done anything with. Arizona decided on a hug only for the redhead to clumsily try and hug the same way, their heads bumping each other causing them to laugh.
"Err she we try this again?" Naimh had suggested smiling at the blonde. "It's good to see you Arizona" she said with a glint in her eye as she took the physio's hand and lent in for a kiss.
Feeling the redhead's lips on hers banished any nerves and Arizona happily let the younger woman's tongue slip softly into her mouth. As enjoyable as the kiss was, they were standing in the middle of a busy train station and so reluctantly ended the kiss.
After dropping Arizona's bag off at Niamh's flat they had headed out for something to eat. The restaurants were finally starting getting back to normal after being locked down for nearly a year. As more and more people across the country received their vaccinations, there was a real hope that things were starting to get better.
The two women had spent a day cycling around the city before walking to the top of Arthur's Seat where they had shared a bottle of wine and caught each other up on what they had been up to since returning from the got on well and the nerves that had accompanied Arizona on the train journey from London had vanished.
"It's good to see you Arizona" the Irish woman said smiling at the physio.
"You too. I'm pleased we could do this" Arizona replied as she placed her hand on top of the redheads and leant in for a kiss which quickly intensified. They had been texting pretty much every day in the build up to Arizona's visit and after breaking away from the kiss the blonde looked into those killer green eyes and asked with a mischievous smile on her face "How long will it take us to get to your flat from here?"
Niamh smiled at the suggestive tone in Arizona's question "15 minutes"
"How about we try and do it in 10" Arizona replied with a suggestive eyebrow wiggle as she jumped up, pulling the taller women up by the hands as they started running down the hill back to where they had left their bikes.
"I've been thinking about this for a long time!"'Niamh said in between kisses as they pushed open the front of her flat .
"Me too!" Arizona responded smiling as she felt the Irish woman's hands slip under her top. Arizona hadn't gone looking for this, but she liked the redhead and she was having fun again. They spent the next couple of hours in bed together, exploring each other's bodies until Niamh had suggested they take a bath together.
"Ohhh that feels good" Arizona said as the warm water soothed her aching muscles.
"Mmmm you know what else feels good?" Niamh said with a mischievous smile and a teasing tone causing a throb between the blonde's legs "a foot message" she laughed as she waved her foot up out of the water making Arizona laugh.
"OK!" She said as she took the brunette's foot in her hands and started massaging it "but I want breakfast in bed tomorrow"
"Deal!" Niamh replied and she settled back and smiled at the blonde down the end of the bath "what time is your train tomorrow?"
"3pm, so we have a bit of time. I thought maybe we could go for a walk" Arizona suggested.
"We could...or we could just spend the morning in bed...you know we DID do a lot of exercise today!" the redhead pleaded.
"Errr being in bed with you is like a workout in itself" Arizona joked.
"What's wrong Robbins...is it too much for you?" the psychologist teased before she was hit with a face full of bubbles.
They discussed how realistically they wouldn't be able to see much of each other once the season started up and with Niamh's teaching commitments during the week and Arizona working most weekends. The distance was also a factor and so they had agreed to enjoy it for what it was, and then if they weren't seeing anyone, they could maybe meet up if they were ever in the vicinity of each other.
On the train journey back to London the next day Arizona had enjoyed that warm glow of someone who had just had a lot of sex and she was pleased that she decided to just go with the flow. The Olympics had been a lot of fun and seeing Callie again had stirred some old feelings within her. Arizona recalled how the brunette had looked at the after party, how she had genuinely seemed happy. As much as she had wanted Team GB to beat the American team, deep down she was a little bit pleased that Callie got her Olympic gold medal as well as a goal in the final. Seeing her happy was the push she needed to move on with her life.
—-
Start of Pre season
As a fairly new club having only been promoted to the top league the year before, only a couple of Spurs players had been involved in the Olympics. Most had stayed in the UK and enjoyed the break from football. Arizona had left a schedule for Becky to work with the players to maintain a base level of fitness whilst she was at the Games and on their first day back at the training ground it was great to see the team again.
Arizona and Sam had been bombarded with questions about their experience in Tokyo and what it had felt like to get to the semi finals. They had been so close to reaching their first final, only to lose via a penalty shoot out to the USA team.
Arizona was excited to be back at Spurs and was even more excited as she had arranged for Niamh to come and have a meeting with the coach about possibly doing some performance coaching sessions with the team. It had been a couple of weeks since her trip to Edinburgh and was excited at the prospect of seeing the Irish woman again.
After Callie had left in December the club's form had dipped and they had survived relegation by just three points and it had really shook the club up. Arizona had suggested that Dr O'Grady could help boost the confidence of the players and get them to move on from the past season. The blonde sent the red head a quick text to check what time her train arrived that day as she took her seat in the conference room where there was a whole team meeting.
The head coach welcomed everyone back and introduced the new players that they had signed. Arizona was impressed that they had managed to get a couple of big names to sign for them, and whilst they weren't at the level of Callie Torres, at least the new players looked like they were here to stay!
"So you've met our new players Amber and Lieke who I know you will welcome to the Spurs family, but there's one more member we need to introduce you to" The coach said as she turned and nodded to one of the other coaches who was standing by the door.
"What's with the cloak and dagger stuff?" Sam whispered to Arizona who she was sitting next to.
"God knows" Arizona responded as she read Alice's text message confirming her train got into Kings Cross at 5pm. Arizona was busy texting a reply and only half listening as the coach continued speaking
.
"Welcome your new attacking coach, US legend and former Spurs player...
Arizona felt her stomach drop as she looked up from her phone - it can't be...she wouldn't?
"...Callie Torres"
- I had the idea of Callie getting a job on the coaching team as a way of them overcoming the contract issue and have been waiting to get the story to the point where I could write it up. So now the only thing stopping our girls getting back together is them! Take care. I'm off to have a large glass of wine :)
Ohhhh did anyone see that twist coming? :) Hope you liked it?
Sarah x