No copyright intended and all that good stuff..
AN: This is an Arizona free chapter.. She might be mentioned but other than that she's not in it.. Oh and for the sake of my story, Callie and Arizona got legally married before the cheating and plane crash happened.
It's just a light sort of filler chapter to hopefully make you smile after that heartbreaking last scene with C/A.
Jouir de!
"How is it I keep letting you talk me into buying you this crap?" Ever since I broke down in front of Savvy about two weeks ago she and I have managed to slip away from work and have a quick lunch together a few times and each time she drags me to this hole in the wall barbecue grill that has the driest most toughest barbecue I've ever had but Savvy just loves the stuff.
Before she answers me she wolfs down a piece of meat I think is supposed to be chicken and I find myself feeling bad for the poor thing, "I think its the eyes. I've been told no one can resist them. Seem like you're no different." She says and smiles smugly before continuing, "Besides, this isn't crap, its delicious."
"Well you sure know how to put it away don't you?" I watch as she inhales everything on her plate and what was left on mine that I apparently wasn't eating fast enough for her, I'm not even sure she's chewing anymore.
"Hey, I don't eat cute and I don't eat for show, I eat for sustenance." she quips after grabbing a few wet naps to wipe her face and hands that are covered in barbecue sauce.
"It's okay, I love a woman who can really eat." I say with a smile, not realizing how that must have sounded. Savvy stops cleaning her face as her eyebrows shoot up and relax when she gives me an evil smirk. Only then do I realize where her mind went, "Food," I blurt out, "because I can cook. I meant a woman who can really eat food you perv. You're so nasty, get your mind out of the gutter." I tell her and feel my cheek heat up from embarrassment.
She raises her hand in mock surrender, "Hey, I didn't say a word."
"You didn't have to, your face said it all."
"Anyway," she drawls, and waits for the waitress to leave after checking on us, "So.. you cook?" she asks.
"I do."
"Is it any good?"
"I do alright.. Way better than this garbage you keep subjecting me to. If you keep insisting on me buying then we're gonna have to find a new place to go."
She chews on her bottom lip while she studies me and it's actually kind of cute. "So how can I convince you to cook for me?"
I shake my head no at that. Not gonna happen, "Forget it, you eat way too much for me to try to feed you. And beside, I'm sensitive about my cooking and you'll just make fun of it."
"I would do no such thing." She says and places her hand over her heart like she's hurt. "Why would you even think that?"
"Because Savvy, you can be a real asshole when you want to. I don't know why you're acting so innocent, need I remind you of what happened last time we came here? About that guy and his friend that tried to pick us up? He and his friend didn't even want to stay and eat anymore after you ripped into him. I think I saw his eyes water on his way out." She just shrugs as she starts to crack open and eat the peanuts on the table. Does she ever get full?!
"Serves his ass right. He acted like he couldn't understand English, and even if he didn't, last time I heard 'no' was the same in all languages right?"
I don't think it was a question but I answer anyway, "Si."
"See what?" she asks and looks over her shoulder.
I can't help but laugh as I drop my head back and look at the ceiling fan over our table, "You're hopeless!"
"Whatever. Back to this cooking thing. If I promise to be nice will you cook for me? I haven't had a home cooked meal since..." She trails off and I don't miss the pained look that flashes across her face before it goes neutral and I can't help but wonder what that was about which only reminds me that I know almost nothing about the woman sitting across from me. "Let's just say it's been years." she finishes.
I pretend to think about it for a minute before coming to a decision, "Perhaps I could be persuaded to whip something up for you, but what do I get in return?" I ask suggestively with a raised eyebrow.
Savvy eyebrow matches mine and so does her tone, "...I could pay you."
I nod my head slowly before resting my arms on the empty peanut shell filled table and leaning forward, "You could, but I don't want your money."
"You get the satisfaction of knowing you made me happy.?" she fishes.
"Nope. I make you happy every time you see me..." I tilt my head to the side and smile, "I was thinking of... something else."
"Callie!" she says in a hushed yell and looks around to see if anyone had eavesdropped on our conversation. "I'm not about to give you some in exchange for a hot meal. That's just skanky and more importantly you're married."
I do my best not to laugh in her face at how flustered and uncomfortable she looks right now when she has openly flirted with me a few times since I met her. "Relax, Sav. I was just messing with you. And I'm separated in case you haven't been paying attention." I see her let out a sigh of relief and it makes me smile. "Okay here's the deal. I know next to nothing about you except where you work and how to piss you off yet you could write a book on the things I've told you about my life so it's time we fix that." She fixes her mouth to say something but I hold up my hand to silence her, marveling in how that works every time. "I get that you're a private person and don't like to talk about yourself so that's why I haven't pushed. But now you have a little incentive. I cook for you and I get to ask you three question, about anything, and you have to answer." She looks like she's trying to think of a way to get out of this so I add some finality to it, "That's it. That's the deal.. That's the only way I cook for you."
"Fine," she says reluctantly after seeing the seriousness on my face and I can't help but smile in victory. "But I get to plead the fifth to at least one of them... And I get desert!" I go to say okay to desert but no to pleading the fifth when she adds her own finality, "Take it or leave it Callie."
You would think we were negotiating on something far more serious than dinner, "Fine.. I'll take it." and we shake on it. It's hard to believe we are grown when we're together sometimes. At least she doesn't challenge me to rock paper scissors like Mark used to.
"So what time should I come by tonight?" she says in all seriousness. I just look at her like she's grown a second head. "What? You couldn't have expected me to wait to get my home cooked meal after all I had to go through to get it did you? Cause unless you have Sofia tonight I'm coming over for my dinner," she says in a voice that leave little room for negotiation. "Will you have Sofia?"
"No.."
"Okay then, as long as nothing comes up me and my appetite will be to your place between 8 and 9 o'clock."
My reply gets cut off by my pager and only now do I realize my lunch break was supposed to be over twenty minutes ago. Ortho Consult. ER. -Hunt. "Shoot, we gotta go." I say and gather my things to leave since I paid the check a while ago and we were just sitting here and see Savvy doing the same.
"Don't think just because your pager went off we were done with that conversation." Savvy says once we get in her unmarked car and make the quick journey back to the hospital. "I still expect to be fed something other than a Ramen noodles tonight."
How do I wind up with all these friends that can't cook? "Fine, barring any major traumas you will have your home cooked meal. What should I make?"
"I don't know, what's your best dish?"
"Chicken Piccata."
"Well make that. I've never had it before actually and I hate trying new food so it better be delicious." she says and pulls up to the ambulance bay. No matter how many times I tell her not to park here she doesn't listen, she just says 'it's not like someone's gonna give a detective a ticket Callie.' so I just let her be.
I get out and stick my head in the rolled down window and say, "It will be, see you at 8."
Before heading home to cook a meal I hadn't planned on cooking this morning I stopped by the daycare to give my daughter a kiss and tell her I love her. Once home I change out of my clothes I wore in to work and into something more comfortable, a cami and yoga pants. I always keep the house stocked because of my greedy yet picky toddler so I don't have to go to the store to get what I need to cook this Chicken Piccata along with thyme roast potatoes and green beans. It's a quick and easy meal, that's why it's my favorite to make, so I have a little time before Savvy gets here to think about what I'm gonna ask her. In hindsight I realize I should have said more than three questions, I shouldn't have given a number at all because I wanna know a lot of things about her. How am I suppose to choose three? And then I know she's gonna plead the fifth on one just to be an ass. I guess I could start simple, and just keep having to cook for her when I want to know something else. I don't have time to really think about what I'm gonna ask before someone starts pounding on my door. It should be no surprise that it's Savannah. "You knock like a freaking cop." I say after stepping aside to let her in.
"I am a freaking cop." she says before she sniffs the air and smiles, she's so fat. "Right on time!" she says and waltz her ass right through my living room and into my kitchen like she owns the place before I pull her by her shirt back out of the kitchen before she can go looking through my pots.
"Excuse you," I say, and push her to sit on a stool at the breakfast bar. "Make yourself at home but not that damn at home." I say and round the bar to go back into the kitchen.
"Come on woman I'm ready to eat." she says and I know if she had any silverware she would be banging them against the bar too.
"Don't rush me. Come here."
"You just threw me out the kitchen now you want me back? Make up your mind Callie." she huffs while she still sits on the stool.
"Would you shut up and come over here.. I want you to taste it to see if you even like it before I fix you a plate." I say and when she makes her way over I put a little of everything on a fork and hold it out for her to take but of course she doesn't, she just opens her mouth for me to feed her. I shake my head blow on the food a little to cool it off and feed it to her. As soon as her mouth closes around the spoon her eyes close and she lets out an appreciative moan. I pull back the fork before her fat self eats that too and watch with a smile as she eats her sample. "Good right?" I ask needlessly.
"Better than good, it's delicious. My taste buds thank you," she says. "More?"
A light chuckle leaves my lips and I tell her to wash her hands and I'll fix her a plate. I fix the plates and get a strange look from Savvy as I walk past her and set the plates down on the coffee table in front of the couch. "Are you just gonna sit there and watch me? I thought you were hungry.."
"Yea, no I was just shocked. I thought eating anywhere but the table would have been a no-no for you." she says as she makes her way over from the bar and plops down on the couch next to me. I watch as she takes her phone, badge, and gun off her hip and put up on the end table. She takes off her blazer leaving her in just a plain yellow v-neck and her slacks, her boots long forgotten at the door. She really has no problem making herself at home and it makes me smile.
I go to reach for my drink and realize I didn't bring any over, "What do you want to drink?"
"Beer." Typical.
"Beer does not go with this meal Savvy," you can hear the eye roll in my voice.
"Beer goes with everything Callie."
I grab the first beer I see for her and pour myself a glass of red and go back to the my guest. I figure now is as good a time as any to start with the questions, "So, earlier you said you haven't had a home cooked meal since whenever and you had this look on your face when you said it."
"Okay?"
"Okayy so, when was the last time you had a home cooked meal?" I ask, thinking is was a fair and simple enough question, so I'm not understanding her pause. She looks over to me after pushing her food around her plate, trying to decide if she wants to answer or plead the fifth. I just wait patiently and smile encouragingly at her hoping it'll get her to open up to me for once.
"Umm, about three years ago." she says and I look at her confused because surely there's more to this answer. I raise my eyebrow as if to say 'and?' "My wife cooked me a nice spread for a big case I was working on that I finally solved."
After I pick my jaw back off the floor I ask, "You're married?" It doesn't bother me, or it shouldn't because it's not like we're dating but I can't help but wonder why and how is she able to spend so much time with me and how her wife feels about this.
She finds my eyes and gives me a sad smile and shakes her head no, "Widowed."
Fuck. This whole time since I've known Savannah I've been complaining and crying over my wife who is still very much alive while she just sat there and listened and her wife is dead. What am I even suppose to say now? "Savvy, I.." I got nothing..
"It's okay, it was a long time ago and you didn't know." she says. "What's your last question?" she asks and I see that she doesn't want to talk about it so I save my question asking what happened for another time. It feels good that I'm finally getting to know a little more about her but I wish I would have asked something else because I don't like the way the mood has shifted so with my last question I change the topic completely.
"What do you want for desert?" I ask and I see her let out a breath she was holding when she realizes she's been let off the hook.
"Ice cream?" she asks with a forced smile.
"Only if you don't mind sharing, I only have one pint." I say as I get up to clear our dishes and grab the pint of Breyer's cookies and cream ice cream that's been sitting in the freezer for I don't know how long.
"That's fine, please tell me it's cookies and cream, I love cookies and cream ice cream."
"Well you're in luck," I tell her as I grab two spoons and a paper towel and rejoin her on the couch. I hand her the ice cream and grab the remote to find us a movie or something to watch on On Demand. "Pick something for us to watch cause I like comedy, drama, and romance and you may not like anything I pick." I say and hand her the remote.
"I'm sure whatever you pick is fine Callie." she says with a mouthful of ice cream and I'm glad to see she wasn't sad for very long but I still feel bad for killing the mood a while ago.
"Your my guest though so you choose. Just no sci-fi please and give me that." I say and snatch the ice cream away from greedy only to see she's already eaten half of it. I shake my head and look up to see her smiling at me with ice cream all over her lips, "What am I gonna do with you?" I say and use my paper towel to wipe her face much like I have to wipe Sofia's when she eats ice cream. I pull back and see she's still looking at me and smiling and it makes me self-conscious. "What?"
"Are you cold?" she asks.
I narrow my eyes at her and say "A little, why?" I follow her eyes down to my chest and I realize why she asked. I cover my boobs trying to get my nipples to go back down and tell her, "Stop looking at them!"
"I can't help it! Tell them to stop looking at me!" she says and we both laugh and I'm glad the heaviness of our past conversation has passed. I sit back and eat some ice cream and wait as she chooses a movie. After she's picked the movie, 'Now You See Me', she takes the ice cream back and buries herself back on the arm of the couch and puts her legs in my lap. I love how comfortable she is with me, completely different from what I would have expected her to be when I met her in that bar. I lean into her and rest my head on her shoulder without moving her legs from my lap and watch the movie. I can't remember the last time me and Arizona snuggled up on the couch and watched a movie and I hadn't realized how much I missed doing it. The last thing I remember from the movie was the four horsemen robbing a bank as their magic act and my last thought before I fell asleep was that I wouldn't mind doing this again.
Okay so I need to know just as much as you who our Savvy is.. I'm tired of picturing a blank face.. Someone said Laura Prepon, Personally, I don't see her fitting as Savvy (sorry guest) but I'll let you all choose.. A friend of mine ;) suggested Paula Patton and while I love Paula to pieces I'm still not sure about that one either. I was thinking Angie Harmon but I'm open to suggestions. So let me know who you think Savvy should be and I'll see who wins and choose (you don't have to choose from those three by the way although I already said in the story that she has brown eyes and I would like for her NOT to be blonde and needless to say, hot)..
