Chapter 22 - Don't Give Up
She was pulled up a flight of stairs and pushed through a doorway. Before she could react her body was pinned against the door. She couldn't breath and her mind was cloudy with arousal. Struggling to gain her bearings a hand slipped up her shirt and lips began to tease her neck.
"Cal-calliope. Uh, god, oh. Please" She grabbed a caramel hand before it was too late to return. "Please."
"What-why?" Her eyes were blacken with desire, her breathing was ragged but she knew what she wanted, "You come to my house at 11 o'clock at night and pull my hands off of you?"
"No-yes. Callie, stop where are you going?"
"Too bed, clearly you had a different plan for the evening. I am exhausted. I have work and don't want to wait for you to make up your mind anymore."
She grabbed the brunette by the arms, "Calliope, wait please. Just because I don't want too doesn't mean I don't want too. I am an idiot and I have a tendency to think with the wrong things in mind. I really like you and I wanted to talk to you tonight because it's obvious you picked up on my stupidity."
She snapped her hand free from the blonde, "Stupidity? More like childish behavior. I don't see what I did to you to make you act like that. I've had it done to me once before and I refuse to have a repeat. You're not even giving me a chance Arizona."
"I know, I know. And I'm sorry. I just – I become an idiot. And there's so much going on. I just, I…" She sighed, and shrugged her shoulders dramatically – there really were no words to explain how she felt or what she thought about.
"Would you like to come to bed with me? And not in a sexual way, I don't sleep with children. Whatever skeletons you are holding onto shouldn't be carried into this – whatever it is. So Arizona, will you come to bed with me and tell me what's going on in that gorgeous blonde head of yours? Please."
She found it difficult to say no to those chocolate eyes, and didn't like being referred too as a child either. Kicking off her Nike running shoes, she jumped onto the bed opposite Callie.
"So…"
"So…" Callie propped herself up on her side and pushed a fist up under her chin so she could gaze at the beautiful woman next to her. The mysterious, confusing, but gorgeous woman. "What did I do to deserve being ignored? You know about my past exes and I don't know what I did to you to deserve that much."
Arizona didn't make any facial movements, she held her gaze steady at the ceiling fan. "Nothing. You did nothing. But make me like you more than I should. And I can't like you. You shouldn't want to date me or like me. I am this walking train wreck and I am literally knocking on deaths door. You shouldn't want to date or befriend someone with a foot in the grave."
"Because you're going to war? I'm sorry Arizona, but I didn't tell you to go to war and to be quite honest I don't understand why you're going. But I don't care."
"That's the thing you should care! You should be angry at me and tell me how stupid I am. Just like everyone else."
Callie was getting a bit fed up at this point, "Earth to Arizona, I don't care about a war okay? From what I've heard you're a bad ass in the pit and the only resident who can run the damn ER. You're a rock star behind the scalpel. And every soldier who comes between you and a stainless steel slab should consider themselves fortunate that they have one of the most talented surgeons saving their life. That's what I care about. I only care about you. I want to get to know you and if you keep shutting me out like this than I will find someone else to torture."
"I just can't do that. No. you don't understand what war is, so let me fill you in a little bit." Arizona sat up on both of her elbows and starred down the Latina, "It's obvious I may never come back. You'll see the news, hear stories, see other veterans return in shambles – both physically and mentally, that will torture you daily. You might hear about an insurgent attack on a US base, and think to yourself, 'was that Arizona? Is she dead? I haven't heard from her in weeks, did she forget about me?'. And don't say you won't because you will. Because I can already tell you're the person who cares so much it hurts you. And this, me being in a combat zone with body armor weighing me down in a makeshift OR is not what you need. You need to live her without that image in your head. You need to live not wondering if I'm alive or dead or in pieces on a battle field."
"Did you ever stop and just think for a second how ridiculous you sound? You could walk out of that door right now Arizona Robbins and I would not forget you. You could never see me again in my life, never speak to me or think of me but I wouldn't stop wondering where you are. What you're doing. Because you are right – I do care, and I care more than I should. But fuck it right?" She let her words seep into creamy pores, marinate her soul and batter her brain. She wasn't about to give up this easy. "Did you ever just stop and think Arizona, that maybe destiny brought us together that shitty night in August? Did you ever wonder if you'd see me again after I saw you in that bathroom because I sure as hell did not! Did you ever think you'd sleep with my roommate that same night and that I'd go on a date with your best friend the following day? Because I didn't. Did you ever think that all of those things happened for a reason?"
"I believe that everything happens for a reason Calliope. Destiny brought us together and fate reunited us. But, I couldn't live knowing that the last time you may ever see me would be in a pine box in an airport hangar. I can't live knowing I could do that to my parents. But I'm selfish and this is what I want."
"And I want to be the reason you don't come home in that pine box. I want to be with you Arizona, you just keep building up these stupid walls for no damn reason, and you can't do that. You can't just run away the moment something becomes hard. I don't care if I spend my nights sleepless – even if it's for a friend – I know that my sleepless nights will be safe because you're protecting me. Just give us a chance okay?"
They sat in silence for a while. A long while.
Arizona thought of everything and nothing. She didn't believe in religion but she couldn't deny the signs that all pointed to Calliope Torres. She didn't want to put this woman through the bouts of deployment, but she was being relentless. Even if it meant only a platonic friendship.
Fuck who was she kidding? She was head over heels for this woman. She made her smile when her life was in shards. She chipped away at every inch of wall she had built up. She even dropped the 'you're protecting me' line which only boosted the blonde's ego. She was gorgeous, kind and big hearted. Plus she already fit in the 'Syphilis Sister's' trend. Okay – maybe that was a little farfetched. But it was obvious. Arizona Robbins only acted like this when three things happen: tragedy, shock or romance. And the saying going, all things come in threes.
"Hhmp, you know how hard it is to say no to those eyes?" She looked into her soul for a moment and brushed a stray hair behind her ear, "Calliope Torres, will you be my girlfriend?"
She pulled the blonde in for a slow deep kiss, "Yes, of course. I will be your girlfriend Arizona Robbins."
AN: Thank you for reading :)
