"Tell me. Have you reconsidered giving me my sister's love letter?"
"Love letter?" Callie's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Who said it was a love letter?"
Arizona blinked, startled by her reaction. "What else could it be?"
Callie snorted, turning from her. "What your sister and I had together could hardly be called an affair of the heart."
Of course. Arizona knew that. Callie Torres didn't have love affairs. She had sexual encounters. That was what everyone said.
Suddenly she felt a surge of sympathy for a woman who couldn't find someone to love. Reaching out, she put her hand on Callie's arm and looked up into her face.
"Has your heart ever been touched in any meaningful way?" she asked Callie softly.
Callie's mouth hardened and so did her gaze. "Sure."
Arizona searched in the shadows of her brown pools. "I don't believe you."
Callie's own hand covered Arizona's, lacing fingers. "Then I'll prove it to you," she said huskily, and she leaned toward her again.
This time Arizona couldn't move. Frozen to her spot, she closed her eyes and felt Callie's mouth come down on hers, felt her own lips part on it own accord to accept hers, felt Callie slide inside her, felt the urge to melt against her, hold her close, hold her dear.
But it was all a sham and Arizona knew it. Balling her hands into fists, she shoved hard and pulled herself away from Callie.
"That's not your heart," Arizona said a bit breathlessly, staring up into Callie's dark face. "That's your libido." She licked her lips, trying to deny her own reaction to Callie's seduction but her hands were trembling. "Besides, the blackmailing period is over," Arizona insisted. "I don't have to pretend to love you anymore. And you don't have to pretend to love me."
Their gazes met and locked but in seconds, the spell was broken. The door swung open and six people streamed into the room.
"Oh, there they are!" one of them called out.
Maggie Pierce, Addison Forbes's assistant, was leading the group. She'd become quite friendly with Arizona over the past week or so.
"Hey!" she cried. "Your secret is out. It's all over the office. Congratulations, you two!"
They looked at the newcomers, slowly realizing what was going on. Obviously, someone who had been at the party the night before had spilled the beans.
"I didn't even know you knew each other!" said April Kepner, a secretary at the firm.
"This is so great," Maggie said, smiling at them. "Have you set the date yet?"
Arizona tried to smile back. This had to be countered right away, but she wasn't sure how to do it. "Well, not exactly," she said. She turned to Callie, waiting to let her do the explaining.
Callie hesitated, gave her a hapless smile, took Arizona's hand, and held it tightly against her chest.
"We're thinking about June," Callie said brightly. "Or maybe a Christmas wedding, if we just can't wait."
"What?" Arizona said with a gasp, but her exclamation was drowned out by the general cries of celebration and well-wishing from the others.
Callie put an arm around Arizona's shoulders and pulled her close, but she did give her an apologetic look. All she got from Arizona was a glare of outrage in return.
"How did this happen?" she asked Callie fiercely, pulling away from her embrace as the others began to file happily from the room.
"I didn't say a word to anyone," Callie protested. "But Addison was there last night. And my sister, Aria, is good friends with Meredith Grey, the Benefits Manager…."
"I guess we should have known it would get out," Arizona admitted. "But you didn't have to compound the problem the way you did!"
Callie hesitated, looking just a little sheepish. Not knowing why she did what she did.
"Well, actually…one of the reasons I was looking for you was to ask if you would mind carrying on this pretense a little longer."
"So it is 'ask' now. No more blackmailing? Arizona looked at Callie quizzically. "Why?"
"Well, you see…" Callie coughed awkwardly. Scratching the back of her neck and looking down like a little girl who has been caught stealing. Arizona found it extremely adorable.
"My father heard about it and he's coming to town just to meet you."
"Your father?"
From what Arizona had heard Carlos Torres was more likely to be on a jet flying to an international medical symposium or advising foreign governments on how to manage their health care than to be in Chicago with his family.
"My mother is planning a dinner party next Friday night to introduce you to him, and to the rest of our family." Callie smile was engaging, as usual. "Will you come?"
Arizona shook her head in disbelief, the push and pull of wishes and fears tearing apart her confidence. She was dangerously attracted to this woman. The longer they stayed together, the harder it was going to be when they had to part at last.
"Calliope, what's the point?" she asked her worriedly.
Callie looked at her and scratched her head in an uncharacteristic way. "I don't know..." she said, and her sincerity was obvious. Her dark eyes softened with something that looked an awful lot like affection. "But I want you there. And it's making everyone so damn happy."
"Including you?" Arizona asked softly, more in wonder than in exasperation.
Callie nodded slowly, looking puzzled, as though she couldn't figure it out herself.
Arizona was going. Of course she was going. What else could she do?
'Oh, stop playing the tragic heroine', a voice inside her chided. You know you want to go. You know you want to be with Callie Torres every minute you can.
And that was true. Still, she knew she ought to be resisting all of this.
She was falling in love again. Falling in love with a womanizer who didn't know what love meant. How crazy was that?
AN - Is Arizona reading Callie wrong? How will dinner at the Torres Mansion will play out? Isn't that's like walking into a Hawk's nest?
AN - Thank you for the awesome reviews. Make your pick - which fic do you guys want me to update next , this one or TCB or SS? I'll go with the audience vote.
xO Rita
