Thank you as ever for your reviews for this story. I love that you are still enjoying these characters. I sometimes get imposter syndrome when I read the other Calzona stories and how amazingly well they are written. I feel like a complete novice, don't have a clue what a Beta is and sometimes really struggle to find suitable words to express what I want to write. That's why all of your encouragement and kind words really does mean the world.
So after the last short update, here is a proper chapter. I stayed up way too late writing this chapter. After a few hours sleep I've now read it back and strangely I'm feeling a little nervous about it and whether it will live up to any expectations you might have had. I feel like I've kept you waiting a little bit for this showdown...so I hope you like it.
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Arizona was on the touch line around the halfway line when she locked eyes with the Spurs goalie. Danni saw Callie lift a hand up indicating she wanted the ball. The Chelsea defenders where still slowly making their way back down the pitch when Danni scooped up and ball and quickly kicked it half way down the pitch towards Callie.
Arizona and Sam watched on the sidelines as the brunette took a quick glance over her shoulder as she waited for the ball to fall out of the sky.
"She's gonna lob the keeper" Arizona said excitedly to Sam as she watched her insanely talented girlfriend skilfully bring the ball under control with the side of her boot, spin, so she was facing the Chelsea keeper and wallop the ball towards the goal. Arizona and Sam stood up in unison as they, along with everyone else almost held their breath as they watched the Chelsea keeper realise she was too far off her goal line and started back tracking.
It was almost in slow motion as the ball looped over the outstretched hand of the the desperate keeper and bounced once before landing in the back of the net.
"Oh My God...what a goal!" Arizona yelled as she high-fived Sam with excitement
"WOW!" Sam said in shock "how on earth did she score from there!" Sam said shaking her head as she looked over at Callie who was still routed to the spot on the half way line but was now being mobbed by her team mates, including the goalie who would get the assist.
"She's amazing" Arizona said proudly as she watched the American celebrate with her team mates. Callie quickly glanced over and the two lovers exchanged a look. Arizona knew Callie was doing everything she could to win this game for her, how fired up she was.
"Game on!" Arizona said competitively as she sat back down and tried to regain her normal composure.
The next ten minutes was so nerve racking as Arizona watched Callie somehow jump out of the way of numerous sliding tackles from the Chelsea players who were, as they suspected they would, trying to target her ankle.
"She's doing brilliantly" Sam added as Callie nutmegged one of the players and played herself out of trouble.
"God I just want this game to be over!" Arizona admitted for more than one reason. A draw against Chelsea would be a great result, given the gulf in talent between the two teams, but she also wanted Callie to be safe.
As they were both strikers Alex and Callie spent most of the time playing at opposite ends of the pitch, but with seven minutes to go Chelsea had a corner and Spurs had every player back in the box defending, including Callie.
The American was marking one of the midfielders and as the ball came into box from the corner, Callie jumped as high as she could but the ball flew over her head and landed at the feet of the Swedish Chelsea striker. As Alex dodged one tackle, she moved the ball quickly from her left to her preferred right foot and went to strike the ball towards the goal.
Unfortunately for Alex, she hadn't been expecting a totally charged up Callie Torres to throw herself to the ground and block the shot that would have clearly beaten the keeper.
"What a block!" Arizona yelled as she jumped out of her seat again
"Penalty" "Handball!" The Chelsea players all started yelling as they surrounded the referee complaining that the ball had struck Callie's arm.
"No way! No fucking way!" Callie yelled as she jumped to her feet and was joined by numerous other Spurs players who had joined the Chelsea players in pleading their case to the referee. It had come off her hip not her arm, but the official blew her whistle and pointed to the spot indicating a penalty.
"For fucks sake!" Arizona yelled furious at the decision as she watched Callie get a yellow card for arguing, and Alex calmly walk over and place the ball on the penalty spot.
Callie was fuming and it took a couple of the Spurs players to pull her away from the referee before she got a red card and was sent off.
The ground went quiet as Alex composed herself and waited for the referee to blow her whistle so she could kick the ball.
Arizona silently prayed for her to miss and leaped with joy when Danni guessed the right way and dived down to her left, somehow managing to tip the ball around the edge of the goal post. The Spurs bench cheered as the players quickly got into position to defend the corner. They had to focus and defend first. As the ball was crossed in Arizona let out a huge sigh of relief as she watched the penalty saving hero safely leap up and claim the ball from the air.
Now the Spurs players congratulated Danni on the save, whilst Callie jogged up close to the Swedish striker and deliberately bumped into her.
"Hey watch it!" Alex said angrily turning to see who had bumped into her.
Callie who was a couple of inches taller than the Swede looked down at the blonde "Once a cheater, always a cheater huh!" The American said with a sarcastic smile as she jogged on further up the pitch.
As the clocked ticked down and the game went into the 4 extra minutes at the end of the game, it felt like a draw was a good result, but Callie was finished yet. She collected the ball from one of her team mates and turned and started sprinting towards goal. She had one last attack in her.
She dodged one tackle, but the second defender made certain she was taken down and Arizona's stomach dropped as she heard Callie's scream of pain as the defender's boot took her ankle from beneath her and the American crumbled to the ground.
"Shit! I knew it" Arizona said as she picked up her bag and ran onto the pitch, not even waiting for a sign from Callie this time.
"Fuck me!" Callie groaned as she sat up and rubbed at her ankle as Arizona reached her and carefully grabbed her ankle.
"Do you need to come off?" Arizona asked as she gently moved the foot around, up and down, watched Callie's face as she winced in pain.
Callie reached down and grabbed a water bottle from Arizona's kit bag, squirted some water in her mouth and on her face and shook her head.
"I know I'm not supposed to argue about this Dr Robbins..." Callie gave a small smile "...but there is no way I'm not taking that free kick."
Callie stared at Arizona who had guessed that would be her response. Truth was, they needed her on the pitch to stand a chance of winning the game. Arizona considered her response and as the movement in the ankle wasn't too bad, the blonde nodded and took out the can of magic spray and sprayed all over the brunette's ankle to numb the pain.
"I'll fix it up properly later" Arizona said as she helped Callie to her feet and watched with concern as the striker grimaced again as she put some weight on the ankle.
"I'll hold you to that." Callie said as she hobbled over to where the referee had placed the ball.
As Arizona jogged off the pitch she ran past Alex who gave her a hopeful look "OK. I'll meet you" the blonde said as she jogged passed the Swede not stopping for a response.
The blonde dumped her bag at her feet and held her breath as she and Sam and the rest of the Spurs team waited for Callie to take the free kick.
Knowing her ankle wasn't strong enough to score directly from the spot where the foul had taken place, Callie gave the order to the team that they were going with the set piece they had practiced the day before. It was now or never as Callie pretended like she was going to try and shoot for goal herself.
Instead she flicked the ball up into the air and onto the head of one of her team mates, who knocked the ball onto the ground and found their midfielder Sal unmarked a few yards out. As the ball came to the Spurs player she dropped her shoulder and slammed the ball into the top corner of the next. 1-2 Spurs.
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The changing room was a scene of jubilation as the players and the coaching staff celebrated their victory. It tasted all the better knowing that Chelsea had missed the penalty and it really did feel like a huge team effort. The game had been televised and they watched Callie's goal, the penalty save and the winning goal over and over, cheering every time.
"Look at Eriksson's face" someone yelled as the camera zoomed in on the Swede immediately after her spot kick had been saved.
"She looks absolutely gutted" one of the other players responded "serves her right".
Arizona and Callie kept their distance on other sides of the changing room, as the blonde pulled out her phone and texted Callie, looking up to watch from the Latina as she read the message.
You were amazing! Bloody brilliant and I can't tell how proud I am right now that you are my girlfriend. A xxxxx
Callie smiled and looked up from her phone searching for the blonde in the crowded room. When she found her they exchanged a brief smile before Callie turned her focus back to her phone.
Ha ha. I'm soooo pleased we did it. Did you see her face? FYI...I may not be able to walk tomorrow and may need to spend the day in bed. will the Dr Robbins service be available again to look after me? ;) xx
Arizona smiled as she read the message and quickly tapped out a response.
Try and stop me! I'm going to see what she wants, but then I'll come round to yours afterwards and we can 'celebrate' the victory.
Arizona saw the concern form on the brunette's face again as she read her message and sent a quick follow up text.
She has nothing on you. You are hands down the better player AND girlfriend. Axxxxx
Callie'sface cheered up a little. She was still getting used to Arizona calling her her girlfriend
Well obviously! Don't let her get to you. Xxxx
Arizona responded with a kiss emoji and slipped her phone away, looking over at the brunette one more time. Even though there must have been at least 25 people in that tiny changing room, at that moment it felt like it was just the two of them as they locked eyes before another player walked over to congratulate Callie on her goal.
--
"Thank you for seeing me Arizona." Alex said softly "it's really good to see you." They we're standing in what looked like a meeting room probably used for conferences.
Arizona stared back at the blonde, but didn't speak as she took in the view of her ex wife. The woman who a year ago she had been married to and head over heels in love with.
"So I ummm I was hoping that now that we're both here in London, that maybe I could see you sometime...you know...hang out...maybe go on a date like old times...I've missed you so much Ari...it's been killing me knowing you are so near, but not being able to speak to you...I feel like we have a lot of catching up to do." Alex said confidently
"No we don't" Arizona responded firmly "we have zero catching up to do Alexandra...we're divorced in case you forgot."
"No of course I didn't forget, it the same way I haven't forgotten how good we were together and I think we can, you know...get that back. I know I want to." The Swede said as she looked at her ex.
"That's NEVER happening Alex" Arizona responded firmly.
"Why not?" Alex asked confused "if you don't still feel something for me, then why meet me?"
"Seriously?" Arizona couldn't believe the nerve of the woman. "You're actually standing in front of me asking me why I don't want to give it another go with you? After everything you did?"
Arizona shook her head and gave a sarcastic laugh "and there I was thinking that you were here to apologise...like you'd actually reflected over the past year, and realised fully what you did...and properly apologise. Apologise for ruining everything we had, everything we had built up over those seven years...shiiit...What a fool I am."
"Ari... Jag är ledsen... jag älskar dig fortfarande" Alex said shaking her head as the tears started forming in her eyes.
Arizona watched as the Swede wiped a tear away. She wasn't falling for her fake crocodile tears.
"Oh fuck off Alexandra...you wouldn't know what love was if it bit you on the arse. I can see that so clearly now. You just like the idea of love, but really you don't have any room to love anyone else because you only love yourself."
"That's not true." Alex replied
"It's 100% true Alex and you know it. Are you honestly expecting me to believe that you've been thinking of me, and only me for the past year and now you're in London it's all I love you Arizona." Arizona scoffed
"But I DO love you!" Alex responded
"It's absolute bullshit Alex, and if I actually still cared about you...I would be be so mad with you right now, but see that's the good thing...seeing you today has given me the opportunity to finally close the door on this chapter in my life. " Arizona said calmly.
"Arizona...please...don't say that...give me another chance." Alex begged
"You had your chance Alex and you chose to go and sleep with someone else. YOU chose that for us Alex, everything that has happened since is because you went behind my back and slept with another woman, when I was utterly and totally devoted to you. " Arizona looked at her ex wife to make sure she was getting the message.
"I know Ari and I've regretted it every day since"
"See that's where we differ...because I haven't. Sure at the start I was devastated, but the more I thought about it, the more I realised that our relationship had never been equal, I had always loved you more than you could have ever loved me."
Arizona continued
"You asked me why I agreed to meet, well it's because I realised there was something I needed you to know. What you did...it hasn't defined me...it hurt, a lot, but I've moved on and I'm happy...like really happy." Arizona paused and took a deep breath "You will always be a part of my history Alex, and there were some good times, but that part of my life is completely over now and I'm seeing someone else who I hope is my future."
"Who? Who is it?" Alex spat back at the news that Arizona was with someone else.
"So here's the thing Al...you don't get the right to ask me that...it's none of your business. I've moved on and I suggest you do the same."
Arizona had heard enough and turned and headed out of the room leaving a shell shocked Alex behind her.
--
90 minutes later and Callie smiled as she saw the headlights of Arizona's car swing into her driveway and excitedly made her way to the front door to let the Brit in. She couldn't wait to celebrate the victory with her. Couldn't wait to strip her clothes off and place kisses all over the gorgeous blonde.
Arizona switched off the engine, undid her seat belt when all of a sudden she was hit by a huge wave of raw emotion as tears started streaming down her face. She could stop. She rested her head on the steering wheel as she let it all out.
Callie opened the door smiling, but her smile quickly turned to concern as she saw Arizona's slumped head resting on the steering wheel and noticed the blondes shoulders moving up and down as she sobbed. Callie walked quickly to the drivers door and opened it causing Arizona to turn and look at her in embarrassment.
"Baby...it's OK...it's OK to cry" Callie said as she pulled the physio into a hug.
Arizona hadn't realised how much she had needed to say those things to Alex, how much she had needed it to feel completely free of emotions towards her ex. At the time her emotions had been completely under control, but as soon as Arizona had pulled up at Callie's, as soon as she had thought of seeing the brunette she had broken down.
"I'm sorry..." the blonde tried to say in between sobs.
"Shhhhh" Callie said stroking the blonde's head that was now resting on her chest "it's OK...we can talk about it if you want, or we don't have to talk about, but why don't we get you inside in the warm OK?" Callie said taking charge as she took Arizona's arm and helped her out of the car and into the house.
Callie obviously couldn't tell what had made Arizona so upset, but she knew she needed to wait until the blonde was ready to tell her. There was a small part of her that worried that maybe the reason she was so upset was because she had decided to get beck with Alex and she was breaking up with Callie.
The thought horrified the American. Despite all their stop/starts she was developing strong feelings towards the Brit and she would be gutted if something had happened to make Arizona change her mind about Alex.
"Listen... why don't you go and have a shower and I'll be here when you are ready to talk OK?" Callie suggested warmly.
Arizona silently nodded and headed upstairs. Once in the shower she cried more tears as she let the warm water run over her body. She was shocked at the level of emotions coming out of her. She hadn't cried like this for a long time and she knew she had must have unconsciously been bottling things up.
As she replayed the events of the afternoon it was Callie who she thought of first. From how well she had played, how she had stood up to Alex on the pitch and how she had held her whilst she had her mini meltdown. Arizona knew it was because she felt so safe and secure with the American that she had allowed her emotions to come out. Just the thought of the Brunette set the butterflies off inside her stomach.
Arizona groaned as she allowed the soothing warm water to run over the face and body one last time before she switched the shower off and grabbed a towel. Callie had been right the shower had massively helped but as she wiped the steam off the mirror she was greeted by a puffy red face staring back at her.
"Urghhh!" Arizona said to herself as she ran a facecloth under the cold water before pressing it to her face to try and bring down her puffy eyes. The physio gave up realising it wasn't working and there wasn't much point considering the fact that Callie had already seen her peak meltdown. She quickly dried herself, brushed her hair and then borrowed some of Callie's clothes and made her way downstairs.
Callie was in the kitchen stirring something delicious smelling on the stove when she heard Arizona enter the room. She turned and saw the physio in her old Miami Dolphins sweatshirt and a pair of leggings. He hair was wet and brushed back off her face and the blonde looked exhausted.
Offering a soft smile the Brit walked over to where Callie was standing and reached for her hand.
"Callie can we talk?" Arizona said nervously
Callie switched off the gas, handed Arizona one of the glasses of wine she had already poured and led Arizona over to the kitchen counter where they sat down.
Callie's heart rate was going crazy. Was this it? Was this the moment she was about to get dumped? She took a big gulp of her wine and looked at Arizona for clues as to how this conversation was going to go.
Arizona started by apologising
"I'm so sorry for earlier, you must be thinking all sorts of things, but you need to know that nothing has changed from this afternoon. My feelings towards you are the same...I just think I've been bottling a lot of emotions up over the past year and well, I think today a dam burst."
Callie let out a big sigh of relief as she took in Arizona words "what happened...do you want to talk about it?" She asked with such warmth and concern in her voice it made a lump form in Arizona's throat.
Arizona nodded and took a sip of wine "Yeah I want to tell you, but I just want to make sure that you know that I wasn't crying about her, about Alex in a sad way."
"It's OK...I get that baby" Callie said softly. Arizona closed her eyes as she felt Callie's hand stroke her cheek. That was the second time the American had called her baby and it generated all sorts of feels each time.
"So she said that she still had feelings for me and asked for another chance." Arizona said pausing for Callie's reaction.
"I knew it!" Callie said bitterly "What did you do?"
"You should have seen me...I was zen like calm and I told her..well basically...that I didn't... and that she was a part of my history and that I was seeing someone who I hoped was my...future." Arizona paused and looked at Callie for a reaction to the last part of her sentence, hoping it didn't freak the American out.
"You said that?" Callie asked smiling back at the physio.
"I did. I told her that what she had done hadn't defined me and that I had moved on and that she should do the same."
"Oooh What did she say to that?" Callie asked still smiling at the fact that Arizon had referred to her as her future.
"I didn't give her a chance to respond. I left and walked out of the room. It was so surreal thinking back, I mean she honestly thought she could just walk back into my life a year later and expect me to be waiting for her!"
"Unbelievable" Callie said "I just don't know what she was thinking...I mean of course someone as hot as you wouldn't still be single!" Callie said taking another sip of wine "she's sooo...arrogant."
"Well you certainly taught her a thing or two on the pitch today..." Arizona said smiling "You were bloody brilliant out there today Callie."
Callie smiled "I tried extra hard for you" the brunette admitted
"I know you did and it meant a lot to me." Arizona looked down at her hands nervously for a moment before continuing "I think I broke down earlier because I knew I could. As soon as I pulled up in the driveway the tears just started and part of that was a huge sense of relief. Relief that I had fully closed the Alex chapter in my life...but also relief and happiness that I have you in my life now."
Callie's heart melted as she absorbed Arizona's words. She had looked so vulnerable earlier and Callie had just wanted to hold her. Hold her and protect her. These were not feelings she had ever experienced with anyone else before.
Arizona looked up from her hands and straight into Callie's brown eyes. "I think you are absolutely amazing and I'm totally falling in love with you Calliope Torres" the Brit admitted, slightly surprising herself with the declaration.
"You are?" Callie smiled back at the confession
Arizona nodded her head and a wide dimpled smile broke out on her face "it bloody scares the shit out of me...but I can't stop it..." Arizona paused before whispering "I don't want to"
Callie took a deep breath and momentarily closed her eyes as she absorbed what Arizona had just said before responding "Me too...me too" Callie confessed "how about we be scared together?" She suggested with a sly smile before leaning in and softly placing her lips on Arizona's.
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Soooooooo what did you think? Be honest...I can take it. Feedback of any kind (well maybe not the Troll type) is welcomed (been there, done that!).
I'm going to take a wee break at the point in this story, just for a couple of weeks as I want to go back and update my other story Therapy.
It's nearly one year since I posted my first Calzona chapter on my first story Things Change and I can't believe how quickly the time has gone. we're nearly in March...spring time. I can't wait for things to open up again and to be able to see my friends and sit in parks and drink wine and laugh about stupid things.
Take care and stay safe. S x