A/N: Since Babyjamo and I are in a very giving mood, we're uploading this chapter a day early. Get ready for an interesting ride ;-)

Thank you all so much for your likes, follows, and reviews!

Chapter 9: Driving Miss Torres

Mark was already in the car, waiting for his partner to join him. An all-knowing smirk appeared on his face when he saw her walk into view in his rear-view mirror. She was making her way over to the car in her super confident, sexy saunter. Mark knew this was mostly a front, even though Callie Torres was a confident woman in general. He was dying to find out what had happened with Officer Robbins earlier. The blonde had obviously knocked his partner off her game and he had never seen that happen before.

"Tina!" He greeted his friend happily as the dark-haired woman got into the car with a huff. Without saying a word, Callie put on her seatbelt and looked at him. She did not want to talk. Yeah, that shit was not going to fly right now.

"How did it…."

"Don't start right now, Gossip Girl," Callie cut Mark off before he could even finish his sentence. If he was going to insist on calling her Tina Turner, then two could play at that game. She leaned over to turn on the radio and smirked when the tune of Rihanna's 'Shut up and drive' blared from the speakers. At least there was still something that did go her way today. "Let's get this show on the road, Sloan."

Mark chuckled and started the car, driving off towards Cadiz to meet Lucia Diaz Gutierrez, Zaynab's older sister. Just before leaving Seville, Mark directed the car towards a coffee place. He hoped that after a decent coffee, Callie would be better company. They had been driving for twenty minutes without saying a word, which hardly ever happened. Whenever he glanced over to his friend, he saw her staring out of the window, obviously deep in thought.

"Torres, did you pull a tongue muscle during your antics last night?" He tried. "I've never known you to be this quiet, especially when it comes to bragging about your sexual escapades."

He could see his friend roll her eyes, but her lips also curled into a smirk, so he knew he was getting her back into the land of the living. "There's my girl," he said in a teasing tone of voice.

"You are….," Callie started. But when she turned her head to face her friend, who was looking at her with those eyes and that mischievous sparkle in them, her resolve crumbled. "...such a dick sometimes….but just because you got cockblocked last night, doesn't mean you can live vicariously through me."

Mark chuckled. "For the record...Little Sloan is on a mission, Torres. Sometimes the chase is better than the prize. Me not getting any last night had nothing to do with being cockblocked, I'm playing the long game. Still doesn't mean I don't want to hear about your private Salsa lesson."

Callie raised her eyebrow at Mark. This man always knew how to cheer her up, their banter was something she appreciated. Even though at times it annoyed her. "Oh, I Salsaed, alright," she replied, finally giving in and joining in on said banter. "And Tangoed, Jived and we even did some Cha Cha."

The look she received in return was priceless. "Oh man, I could have sworn she was straight!"

"She wasn't last night," Callie replied tongue in cheek.

"You dog, you," Mark's face lit up. "I've told you this before, but I've never met a woman who can play the game like us guys do. Colour me impressed. You deserve a friggin' statue or something."

Callie chuckled. "If I didn't know you, I'd slap you for being so offensive."

"You know you love me, Torres." Mark flashed her a bright smile before wiggling his eyebrows. "So…."

"I'm not comparing notes with you, Sloan. Let's just say that Carmen now knows what it feels like to have a woman lead her around the dancefloor." While she spoke, Callie's full lips curled into a smug smirk. Even though it had been another victory in her book, it had not been as satisfying as she had hoped.

"Damn….was it good?"

"Hmmm, it was okay," Callie replied with a slight shrug.

"What?! Just okay? That woman had boobs like mountains and thighs like…..," his voice trailed off as he painted a mental picture of the woman Callie took home the night before but ended up thinking about a different woman. The one he had wanted to take home. The one who was making him work for it.

"I just couldn't get my head in the game," the dark-haired woman replied. The image of a certain blonde kept distracting her from the task at hand, killing a fair bit of her vibe.

"It's Gizmo, isn't it?" Mark's tone turned a bit more serious. "You've been acting all weird from the moment we met her."

Callie sighed. "She just…..She threatened to kick me off the team," Callie said before pursing her lips. "I'm on notice because I didn't log my location last night."

"I might have to call to put a hold on that statue," Mark teased. "She's got balls, I have to give her that. What did she say?... She really got under your skin, didn't she?"

"I just don't know if I want to scream at her or fuck her brains out," Callie huffed.

"I think you should do both."

"Really, Mark?" Callie shot Mark a death glare. "Read the room."

"Sorry," he focused his eyes back on the road and let Callie stew for a little. He knew the Latina sometimes needed to have a moment alone with her thoughts and teasing her would not help. Banter time was over for now. "She really did a number on you, didn't she?" He said after a short pause. He furrowed his brows slightly before looking over at his friend.

"You have no idea," Callie replied as her eyes seemed to glaze over and she returned to gazing out of the window.

Mark eyed his friend with genuine worry and frowned slightly before speaking up. "All joking aside, Torres, I'm actually a pretty good listener. I've got your back, you know? If you say we hate her, we hate her."

She turned to him and flashed him a forced smile. Callie was clearly thrown off her game by Robbins' presence and she had yet to figure out how to properly deal with the woman. "Thanks, Mark." Without another word, she returned to staring out of the window. "We were going to build a life together," she said, her eyes trained on the dry, mountainous landscape they were passing through. "We had agreed on going public, so we could really be together. I told my parents about her. I had wanted to tell them about me being gay for years, but I always chickened out. Arizona….she made it easy for me to do it. Even though I knew it probably would not go over well."

There was a long pause and Mark looked over at Callie. Was he supposed to comment here? Or just wait for his friend to finish talking. The way her voice sounded had him confused, he had never heard her sound so defeated. "I take it did not go over well?"

Callie chuckled and shook her head. "You can say that. My father threatened to disown me. But not before giving me a lecture about me living my life in sin and ending up in hell. But before he could cut me off….I….I cut them off. I chose Arizona over my family. I decided right there and then that I wanted to be with someone who loved me for me. My parents were no longer those people." She swallowed hard and bit her lip, fighting back the tears she felt pooling in her eyes. "When it came to Graduation Day, it was just me. My parents did not want to be there. I had gathered myself to look good for the pictures, kept my head held high even though I was dying inside, thinking...knowing she would be there and we could finally be together. And then when I saw her….she brushed me off, acting like we were just classmates."

Mark visibly winced at the picture Callie painted. "Shit, that's cold," he said, not really sure what else to tell his friend.

"I never in my life felt so alone as in that moment," Callie said, not really acknowledging Mark's presence at the moment. She just stared out of the passenger window. It was the first time she talked about this, the first time she voiced the agony she had felt that day. The pain that had changed so many things in her life plans.

"Did you speak to her after?" Mark enquired, although judging from the reactions both women had to being near each other, he probably already knew the answer.

"No. The FBI called me about a week later with an offer, I packed up my things and never looked back."

"Jesus, Torres," he said. "Even for Gizmo that sounds….un-Gizmo-like." Mark had never crossed paths with Arizona Robbins before, but he was a pretty good judge of character. Even though she was annoyingly straight-laced, she was a good team leader so far and she really seemed to care about the well-being of her team members. It surprised him that she did not seem to extend that kind of care to someone she was dating at the time.

"She tried," Callie replied. "She wrote me letters."

"What did they say?"

"I never opened them. I couldn't. I just returned them with a note telling her to leave me alone." Callie shrugged, but deep down she still wondered what could have possibly been in those letters. She did not want to know though, at the time there had been no explanation good enough for what Arizona had done. But as the years had passed, there had always been that nagging voice in the back of her head that reminded her that there was an explanation. 12 letters worth of explanation apparently.

"That is some serious Days of our Lesbian Lives shit," he said. "The Universe is seriously trying to tell you something, Torres. Maybe it's time to settle this thing once and for all. This is your chance to sit her down and talk shit out. I mean, it sounds to me this is still pretty much up in the air. Wouldn't you want some closure?"

"Mark, just because you meditate now and Carina is keeping you on your toes, does not mean you can go all Guru on me." Her response was kind of harsh, but that was only because Mark was right. This was her chance to figure things out and maybe leave Arizona behind for once and for all. But seeing Arizona in the flesh, the still very gorgeous flesh, made her wonder if she really was ready to leave the blonde in the past.

"And you're just lashing out at me because you know I'm right," Mark shot back smugly. He got that Callie was hurting and he did not mind taking a few hits here and there, but she was starting to turn into an unreasonable little brat here. "Stop being a brat and face it, Torres. You are better than this," he paused to look at his friend, who had finally seemed to acknowledge him again. "I know you are."

It was quiet in the car for the longest time and for a moment Mark wondered if Callie was preparing to really lash out at him this time.

"I'm sorry," Callie said, sounding deflated. "I'm really on edge. I always know how to handle people….but her….I don't know how to handle her. And I hate that she still has an effect on me. It makes me feel like insecure twenty-something Callie all over again."

"Callie," Mark hardly ever used her first name, but when he did, he always meant business. "You are the best profiler I know, apart from me, of course." He could not help but keep the tone a little light, his way of supporting his friend. "You will figure it out. Think of it as a case, study her behaviour, and come up with a plan."

She nodded. Mark was right. She had to study Arizona's behaviour, without letting her personal feelings get in the way. That, of course, sounded a lot simpler than it was. But she was going to have to deal with Arizona one way or another.