AN-
Sorry for the late update, I had issues with word last night and tried for half an hour to get it to work before I had to give up because I was falling asleep. Finally managed to get it working today though so I give you chapter 25.
Not much to say about this chapter, callies stress levels are up because of the upcoming trial and she has a moment with Arizona, could our girls be on their way to admitting their feelings for each other? youll have to wait and see, not much longer now though, only a few more chapters till things start progressing. but first we have to get the trial out of the way!
Hope your all doing well, as always please drop a little review at the end to let me know what your thinking. I love reading every single one of them, they honestly make my day.
AL xxx
-oOo-
It had been a few days since her session with her lawyer and Callie was still feeling rattled from it. Arizona had done a good job at settling her nerves but the niggling feeling at the back of her brain and in the pit of her stomach just wouldn't leave.
She was currently sat at school in the library trying to focus on the assignment she had due next week, knowing in the following weeks with the court case coming up she would likely fall behind and so she was trying to get ahead of herself but her brain just wouldn't turn off of Earl.
Even now, all these months later he was still present in her mind despite her giving her best effort to move on from him and his torture. To an extent she was moving on, she was out of his grasp living safely with her family again, she had started school back up and was acing all her grades so far, which in her opinion wasn't hard due to the lacklustre teaching at Drews, but regardless she was doing really well academically. She just needed to get Earl out of her head.
Dr Warner and Arizona had both warned her that it may take some time and that in the approach to the court hearing old feelings may resurface but she hadn't expected all her thoughts to revolve around him. It's like every time she thought about something else her brain would turn it back to Earl. It was a vicious cycle that seemed to be never ending and it was draining all of her energy.
Slamming her laptop shut a little harder than necessary, she collected her items that were sprawled out across the desk and placed them back in her satchel before walking out of the library. She made her way to her car and got in sighing deeply that in her walk her brain had been on that bastard again instead of on her coursework where it should be. But no, her idiotic brain had to be reliving old memories and taunting her.
Turning the key in the ignition, she turned the music up loud to drown out her thoughts and smiled when she felt the little flutter in her abdomen from the baby moving at the sound. She stuck the car into reverse and pulled out the driving space deciding that she would take the scenic route home in a bid that it would help blow out the cob webs and help her think more clearly.
An hour and a half later she pulled into the drive of her parents house and smiled at the familiarity of it. This was a safe space, here she had no bad memories only good memories, great memories in fact. Here she was safe. No one would hit her, or rape her or attack her, no one would mentally and emotionally abuse her... no here she was only shown love and affection. Here she was made to feel wanted and like she was a valued person, like her life was worth something.
She exited the car, grabbing her satchel, and made her way towards the front door and let herself in the house. She could hear voices from the kitchen so she made her way through instantly recognising four familiar voices. As she entered the kitchen she found her parents sitting with Dan and Barb chatting amongst themselves.
"Mija your home" Carlos grinned when he spotted his daughter creeping into the kitchen.
"Yeah, I couldn't focus at the library so I decided to try and focus here instead. Sorry to interrupt" Callie muttered.
"Oh, sweet thing, you're not interrupting at all. We just popped over to check in on everyone" Barbara smiled softly at the younger Latina.
"There's some of Barb's apricot chicken in the oven for you" Lucia said as she stood up and made her way to the oven to grab said meal. "Are you hungry?"
"I'm not but this little girl is, she's been kicking the crap out of me all the way home" Callie admitted.
"Sit down while I serve up your dinner" Lucia smiled to her daughter as she began making up a plate of food.
"How's the pregnancy treating you?" Barbara asked carefully.
"Mostly good, I haven't had much morning sickness thank god, so hopefully it won't start now" Callie answered, her hand rubbing small circles on her still fluttering abdomen.
"Thats good to hear dear, you're over the worst of it now... well until your ankles start to swell and you start feeling like a beached whale" Barbara laughed.
"I will take swollen ankles and fatness just as long as she is healthy and safe" Callie said, smiling to her mother as she placed a plate in front of her ladened with food enough for a small army. "This smells delicious Barbara, thank you"
"Oh its nothing, just a little something I threw together before we decided to come over for a natter" Barbara waved her hand dismissively.
"It tastes great too" Callie smiled after she took a mouthful. Eating Barbara's cooking was nothing new to her, she had practically grown up eating with Arizona and Tim. If she wasn't at Dan and Barb's house eating then the twins were at her house eating. But the taste of Barbaras home cooking after so many years brought back a flood of happy memories which in turn brought a tear to the Latina's eye. She quickly apologised for the tears, blaming it on the hormones which caused Lucia and Barbara to fuss over her.
"What's going on in here?" Arizona asked as she peeked her head through the french doors, not at all surprised to find her missing parents in the Torres kitchen.
"Just having dinner with Lucia and Carlos" Daniel smiled at his daughter who invited herself in and took a seat next to Callie.
"Have you eaten dear?" Lucia asked in a motherly tone.
"Not since lunch, what's this it smells good?" Arizona asked nudging Callie's plate playfully. Callie offered the blonde a playful glare before tucking into her food like Arizona was going to steal it from her plate.
"Your mums apricot chicken, I will make you a plate up" Lucia smiled at the girls interactions as she made her way back to the oven to serve up another portion.
"this is so good, I can see why you didn't want to share" Arizona mumbled around her first mouthful of dinner much to Callie's amusement, causing the brunette to laugh loudly, a sound that was music to everyone's ears.
"you're a pig" Callie finally said as she began to settle down.
"i know you are, you said you are, so what am I?" Arizona shrugged.
"Very mature! How old are you again?" Callie scoffed.
"Children please" Barbara scolded softly, loving seeing the two women being playful.
"Sorry mom" Arizona looked contrite for a moment before she glanced at Callie and burst out laughing as Callie tried to conceal her smirk behind her hand. A few months prior and Callie would have regressed and been upset at being told off but now she was smirking and finding it amusing and that made Arizona's heart flutter.
"What's so funny?" Carlos asked, his gaze flicking between the younger Latina and the blonde.
"Nothing Carlos, I'm just high on life right now" Arizona grinned.
After the two girls finished dinner they made their way out onto the patio, Callie with her satchel in hand, determined to get this assignment finished early come hell or high water. Once she was sat comfortable in her seat she pulled her laptop from her bag and placed it on her lap, Arizona couldn't help but snigger when the laptop half hung off her knees due to the baby bump.
"Do you want me to do the typing?" Arizona asked around a giggle.
"No I can manage thankyou!" Callie snapped softly, unamused at the blondes apparent hilarity at her predicament.
"Seriously, I can help" Arizona offered again after sobering her laughter.
"Fine, you can proof read this, it's almost finished but I feel like its missing something" Callie acquiesced and handed the laptop to the blonde. She watched as Arizona read her assignment, her face scrunched in concentration and her eyes squinted just so, she looked breathtaking in moments like this and Callie couldn't help but feel an attraction to her, which felt so foreign and wrong to her, so scary and terrifying. But the longer she watched the concentrating woman the more that attraction grew.
Being attracted to Arizona was nothing new to her, after all Arizona had been her first real crush long before Joanne was on the scene, she just didn't understand what that attraction meant back then, it was Tim who had made her see sense but by the time she had understood the feelings she was having and was ready to tell Arizona, the blonde had come home with a girlfriend and it was too late. Callie was just glad that Arizona was happy, sure it was bittersweet but Arizona's happiness was the most important thing to her.
Callie watched as Arizona began biting her bottom lip in thought and she felt something completely alien to her, a wave of desire flushed through her body, she had of course felt desire before so knew what it was in an instant, it had just been so long since her body had felt anything other than revulsion when it came to matters of the heart, or body, and so she began to panic.
"Calliope?" Arizona asked in a loud tone breaking the brunette from the beginnings of a panic attack, she moved her eyes from Arizona's lips to her eyes and blushed deeply.
"Where did you go, I was calling you for a solid minute there?" Arizona asked in a worried tone.
"I was just thinking, what were you wanting to say" Callie asked desperate to move the conversation along.
Arizona nodded in understanding, sometimes Callie got lost in her head and needed time to come around to speaking about what was on her mind and so she didn't push it, instead she went on to explain the changes she thought the brunette should make to her assignment just to make it pop. Callie listened with rapt interest at Arizona's wisdom. There wasn't really many changes just switching a few paragraphs around and the suggestion to elaborate on a few things. Callie grabbed the laptop back and set to making the changes, pausing to think every few moments before her fingers began tapping away on the keys again.
When she was finished she handed the laptop back to the blonde who began to read through the changes. To avoid getting lost in Arizona again Callie looked out into the setting sun and basked in the last few moments of heat it provided. She could not be having feelings for Arizona again, not after all this time. No, it was just a moment of madness. She would get over it, not that there was anything to get over.