"I don't wanna go" Arizona whined, burying her head under her pillow.
"Arizona…"
"You can't make me"
"Arizona Robbins" Callie wrestled the pillow away from the scowling blonde "you are a doctor. You have tiny humans waiting for you to save. So you'd better get your butt out of this bed and get to work before I call your boss…Bailey, is it? And get her to come over and drag you there herself"
The blonde swiftly sat up, her eyes narrowing "You wouldn't dare"
"Wouldn't I?"
"You don't even know Bailey"
"Nope" the brunette smiled "but your reaction tells me that you're terrified of her, which I'm totally banking for future use, and so I'd say you're not willing to take even a remote chance that I might actually call her and tell her you're refusing to get out of bed and come to work"
Arizona pursed her lips, unable to argue with any of the brunette's reasoning.
"So…are you getting up?"
"Fine" the blonde grumbled, getting out of bed "but you don't get to complain when you have a horrible moody girlfriend this evening"
"More or less moody than my current one?" Callie teased, knowing she was pushing her luck.
"Carry on like that and you'll have no girlfriend this evening" Arizona walked past her, heading to the bathroom.
The brunette waited for what she deemed to be an appropriate length of time before knocking on the bathroom door, having just heard the shower turn on.
"Yes?" came the aggravated response from behind the door.
"Can I come in?"
"Feel free"
Callie entered the bathroom as the blonde stepped into the shower, pulling the translucent curtain shut. The brunette swallowed, seeing the outline of Arizona's naked body as she let the water cascade over her.
"Did you come in here to say something or just to perv?" the blonde asked.
"Busted" the brunette smirked "I wanted to check if you were actually mad at me"
"I'm…" Arizona paused, rubbing the shampoo into her hair "I'm not mad. Deep down I know you're right"
"Ok…." the brunette answered cautiously "do you want to talk about what's bothering you?"
"I do…but I also don't want to sound stupid, and it's also weird talking to you through a curtain"
"Would it help if I came past the curtain?"
"I mean yes, but that would be totally ridiculous because…"
Arizona was cut off by the brunette pulling back the curtain and stepping into the shower.
"…you have my dressing gown on and now it's soaking wet" the blonde finished.
"I'm…sorry?"
The blonde shook her head, laughing as she rinsed out the shampoo "No you're not, but that's totally ok"
"It'll dry?" Callie offered meekly.
"I'm sure it will" Arizona answered, slowly reaching out to grip the brunette's hips "but will you?"
"Never" the brunette shook her head "not while I'm anywhere near you"
"Mmm ok" the blonde smirked, leaning in to brush her lips against Callie's "then I think I might be able to forget anything other than how wet you are"
The brunette returned the kiss before pulling back "Please don't underestimate what a complete turn on that is, even if I'm currently at my least sexy in a waterlogged dressing gown"
Arizona laughed "You're a serious pain in the ass Torres"
"Am I though?" the brunette smirked, stepping in closer and letting her hands roam until they were cupping the blonde's ass "A pain in this incredible ass?"
"Calliope…"
"Yes?"
"I need to put some conditioner in and you are severely impeding my ability to carry out normal human functions right now"
Callie winked and stepped back "Go right ahead, I'm sorry, I won't interfere"
The blonde rolled her eyes, picking up the bottle of conditioner before she quickly found it being removed from her hands.
She raised an eyebrow at the brunette, who simply smiled back at her.
"Can I?" Callie asked, although the answer seemed pretty irrelevant at that point.
The blonde sighed "Why am I not surprised that your 'not interfering' lasted about five seconds?"
"Turn around"
Arizona did as she was told, turning so that her back was to the brunette. She moaned in satisfaction as she felt Callie's fingers massaging her scalp as she applied the conditioner.
"Did you want to talk about it?" the brunette asked softly.
"No" the blonde shook her head lightly "I know I'm being stupid and I just need to walk back in there with my head held high. And right now you are seriously helping me relax"
"Good" Callie smiled "now turn back around and let me rinse this out for you"
"Yes ma'am"
Arizona turned and tilted her head back under the water, letting the brunette run her fingers through her hair, rinsing the conditioner away.
"There you go, all done"
The blonde lowered her chin and opened her eyes. She reached out to cup Callie's cheeks, pulling her in for the gentlest of kisses.
"Thank you" she whispered.
"Anytime beautiful"
"I should get out and get myself ready"
The brunette nodded, kissing her again "I'm gonna grab a quick shower myself, minus the gown, that way I can walk out with you"
"Ok" Arizona smiled "see you in a minute"
Twenty minutes later, both women were ready, and despite the blonde's attempts to delay them, they were in fact leaving on time. They walked hand in hand to the end of Arizona's street before stopping to kiss each other goodbye.
"You can call or message me anytime ok, even if you just want to yell at someone" Callie said genuinely.
The blonde shook her head, smiling "I have plenty of interns I can yell at. But thank you, and if I call, it'll be because I just want to hear that sexy voice of yours"
"Anytime" the brunette grinned "now, go show the world that nobody can keep Dr Arizona Robbins down"
"Right. I'm gonna go be awesome and I'll see you later"
"Have a good day"
"You too"
They kissed once more before going their separate ways, with Arizona heading to the hospital while Callie made her way to her hotel. After all, she had a pitch for the New York Times to work on.
In contrast to her previous attempt to brainstorm, today the brunette was inspired. She scribbled furiously, filling pages of notes before she turned on her laptop and began to create the framework of a plan. Making herself a cup of coffee, she decided that caffeine would only assist with her quest, and began using her phone to google further background material that would add credence to her article.
Arizona, meanwhile, was not having such an enjoyable morning. As she approached the nurses station on the paediatric floor, intending to collect the charts for her morning rounds, she found that the usually chatty nurses immediately fell silent. She could feel several sets of eyes on her as she reached for her first chart, and everybody seemed to be frozen to the spot.
"Does nobody have any work to do this morning?" she asked breezily.
"Yes"
"Sorry Dr Robbins"
The embarrassed replies came from several nurses as they scurried away, suddenly busying themselves. By the time Arizona had counted to ten and looked up from her chart, only Yolanda, the senior staff nurse, remained.
"Is there something I can help you with?" the blonde asked.
"Dr Robbins" the nurse folded her arms "I'm not going to insult your intelligence by pretending that I didn't notice you being escorted out of here yesterday by two cops, as did a number of the other nurses. Is there something that we should know?"
"No" Arizona folded her own arms instinctively "the fact that I'm back here today should tell you all that you need to know. And I know for a fact that Dr Yang has warned you, and the other nurses, to refrain from spreading malicious gossip about me around this hospital"
"That she has. And I'm content to draw a line under this whole issue, but you know this hospital…you know what people are like once something is out there"
"Well then I suggest that you advise your staff that unless they want to end up on the wrong side of me, and Dr Yang, that they might want to follow your lead"
"I'll see what I can do, Dr Robbins" Yolanda looked at her knowingly before picking up a chart and heading off to see a patient.
Arizona set off on her rounds, glaring immediately at any nurse or intern that she perceived to be looking at her strangely. But her bright smile slipped right back on as soon as she spoke to any of her patients.
She was visiting her third patient of the morning when she was finally joined by a friendly face. Her friend Andrew DeLuca, who was also one of her most promising interns, had been working on the long term care plan for a young boy with cystic fibrosis. Logan was six years old, and had been diagnosed shortly after birth, but his symptoms had worsened since he started kindergarten and unfortunately he was likely to be a regular hospital visitor for the rest of his life. But despite his condition, Logan had a wicked sense of humour, and regularly had his doctors in fits of giggles at his jokes and attempts at pranks.
Once they'd spoken with Logan's parents, arranging his next intense physical therapy session before discharging him, DeLuca suggested that they grab a coffee before he had to scrub in on a surgery.
"You know just how to make a girl feel better" Arizona grinned.
They headed to the coffee cart in the foyer, with DeLuca offering to pay as he insisted it was his turn.
"So" he turned to the blonde as he took his coffee "you glad to be back?"
"Ask me a different question" she laughed.
"Ok…you gonna tell me about your hot girlfriend?"
Arizona's eyes narrowed "Who did you hear about her from?"
"Let me see, firstly Carina might just have mentioned that she turned up at your apartment at a rather…awkward…moment. Which I'm aware is at least partly my fault, so I'm sorry about that…but you really could have told me you guys broke up"
"Hang on" the blonde interrupted him "firstly, we were never together. And secondly, I would have expected her to tell you"
"Yeah…I'm not sure you were broken up in her mind"
"A minor detail"
"Something like that, yeah" DeLuca grinned "anyway, she told me first, and then I heard from Jenna this morning that a hot Latina came storming in here yesterday, calling herself your girlfriend. So I would say that my research has multiple unrelated sources, thus coming to a reliable single conclusion"
"And your conclusion would be correct, Dr DeLuca. That 'hot Latina' is Callie, my girlfriend" Arizona couldn't hide her grin at the mention of the brunette.
"Come on…don't make me beg for details…"
Deciding that DeLuca was a good enough friend to get at least some of the details, the blonde shared an abridged version of her history with Callie and the fact that the brunette had moved to New York with her.
"So when do I get to meet her then?" DeLuca asked once the blonde had finished.
"Next year sometime" Arizona teased.
"Come on…bring her to Hunters tonight…first round's on me"
The Hunterian was a bar down the street from the hospital, affectionately referred to as Hunters by the hospital staff.
"I dunno…I've only been back at work for two days…" the blonde protested.
"It doesn't need to be a late one. Just…I thought you might need to unwind, plus…I really want to meet her"
"Oh" Arizona sighed "I guess the gossip made its way to you then?"
"Yeah" he blushed "I mean, I spoke with Jenna this morning…"
"Right"
"I wasn't going to mention anything…not unless you wanted to talk about it…"
"Thanks" she interrupted "but I'm fine, and it's all just a big misunderstanding. Fine, you've convinced me. We can go to Hunters tonight, I'm sure Callie won't mind joining us"
"Awesome" DeLuca smirked.
"Very funny"
"What? You don't own the word"
Arizona swatted him away, waving him goodbye as they went their separate ways.
It was lunchtime before she got a chance to call Callie, shutting herself in an on call room for a bit of privacy.
"Hey you" the brunette answered the phone, and Arizona could hear the smile in her voice.
"God your voice is better than any medicine I could ever prescribe" the blonde sighed.
"Rough morning?"
"I guess. Just…a lot of strange looks and whispers. Nothing I can't handle, but I'd still feel a hell of a lot better if I was in your arms"
"Aww baby, you know I'd love to be holding you right now"
"I feel better already"
"Is there anything else I can do to help?" Callie offered.
"Well…" the blonde lowered her voice "I can think of one or two things you could do for me tonight that would really improve my day"
The brunette chuckled "I think that can probably be arranged"
"But first…I've kind of agreed that we'll go for drinks after work"
"Ok no problem. Maybe you could just swing by the hotel when you're done, or…"
"No" Arizona laughed "I meant both of us"
"Oh"
"It'll just be a couple of my friends. Christina'll be there. And DeLuca's desperate to meet you. You made quite the impression when you stormed in yesterday"
"You're not gonna take no for an answer, are you?"
"I'll make it worth your while"
"Is that a promise?" the brunette asked.
"Absolutely"
"Ok fine. I guess I'd actually quite like to meet your friends"
"Great" the blonde smiled "you want to meet me at the front of the hospital at 630?"
"Can't wait"
"See you later gorgeous"
"Hope your day gets better!"
Callie hung up the phone, immediately feeling the nerves start. She wanted to meet Arizona's friends, she really did, but they were doctors. They were smart. And they mattered to her girlfriend, which meant she needed to make a good impression, and not embarrass either of them.
Looking at her phone again, she realised she had about five hours until she needed to leave for the hospital. Plenty of time to do some further research on her pitch, after she'd grabbed some lunch. She then sent an email to Jackson Avery letting him know that she was ready to pitch to him at his earliest convenience.