Yay, a new chapter, after an extended absence! Sorry for the delay, I needed to put in a last push for all of my summer exams. However, everything is now done, and school's almost over, so the updates should become regular again :) This should liven things up a bit hopefully. Enjoy!
Warmth surrounded her, and for the first few moments of disorientating awakeness in four hours, Arizona struggled to remember where she was. Scrunching her face up, and rubbing her eyes to rid them of early morning stickiness, she looked around. Straight into the face of the Latina who had been watching her sleep.
"Whoa…good morning…", came the first startled, then content words of the morning from the blonde.
"Hey there, sleepy.", retorted Callie, gently leaning over and brushing her lips on Arizona's..
Arizona gave a smile, then pulled back, "How long were you watching me sleep for?"
"A while…", was the sheepish retort, accompanied with a small blush on the other woman's cheeks.
"Creep.", shot Arizona teasingly, playfully tugging at a strand of Callie's hair.
Lying back on the pillow, Arizona thought through the previous night. After dancing together, Arizona had brought Callie back to her room. To be quite honest, her intentions were not that pure but, in hindsight, she should not have been as worried.
They had danced a little more, tiring equally, then fallen, exhausted, onto Arizona's bed. There had been some awkward, stolen glances but, luckily, neither had called the other out on them. They had, after all, only known each other for a few days, but neither wanted to bring up that particular barrier again.
Nevertheless, they had spent the night talking softly, curled around each other, before falling asleep intertwined – Callie's arms around Arizona, with the smaller woman's legs intertwined with her own.
"Don't blame me, I was just making sure you weren't comatose", shot back Callie, snapping Arizona from her daydream, her eyes twinkling, "Honestly, I would have thought you had died in my arms, had you not been talking…"
Arizona gave a groan, and pulled a pillow from behind her over on top of her face, covering it, and muffling her voice entirely. A nonsensical string of sounds escaped the feathered mute, making Callie laugh.
"Don't be embarrassed, it was cute.", Callie stated, trying to tug the pillow from her companion, with no success.
Turning, Arizona pulled a face, though the cushion hid it, "I want to be seductive. Not cute."
"Cute and perky is seductive. Or at least, you make it so it is.", retorted the Latina, making one last effort to tear the pillow from the blonde.
Another grumbled groan came from the swaddled figure, and Callie was left with no choice. Releasing her arms, which were around the other woman, she pulled a pillow of her own from beside her, and raised it up over the other woman, holding it in place before bringing in down with a whoosh.
"OW!", yowled Arizona, sitting up at once, and holding her head in her hands, "Oh no you didn't…"
The Latina's only response was a sly smirk. With a shriek, Arizona lunged forwards, striking Callie in the midriff with her own pillow.
Gales of laughter filling the room, they proceeded to swat each other with the soft feather pillows, with Arizona gaining the advantage.
Grinning, the blonde threw the pillow aside, and tackled Callie back onto the bed, shaking with laughter as she did so. With a thump, they landed – Arizona straddling Callie's hips – and fell silent.
For a moment, they sat in silence, looking at each other.
"You're beautiful", Arizona blurted, forgetting to process her thoughts, and spitting out exactly what she was thinking.
The woman beneath her blushed, and seemed to squirm a little, looking away. Seeing the reaction her words brought about, Arizona gently cupped Callie's cheeks in her hands, and leant over, pressing her lips softly to the other woman's.
"You are.", the blonde whispered, pulling away less than an inch from Callie's face, and looking her in the eyes.
Melting under the other woman's gaze, Callie breathed a sigh and sat up, pulling Arizona to her, and planting a kiss on the blonde's sculpted right collarbone.
Murmuring a noise of contentment, Arizona leant her forehead against Callie's and they sat, in silence, breathing in time with each other.
Both were content in the moment. Both were utterly unconcerned about what the repercussions of their contentment were.
Both were utterly startled when the door to Arizona's room flew open, to reveal a pack of Peacekeepers, and a short black woman with a look of shock on her face as she took in the two scantily clad women curled around each other on the bed.
The woman seemed to compose herself, and in a stern voice, called to them.
"You two. You're coming with me. Hurry up, and put some clothes on."
Appropriately chaste, Callie freed herself of Arizona's frozen grip, and began to scoop up her clothes from the previous night. She turned, and saw Arizona, apparently bemused and irritated, open her mouth to speak, and Callie didn't have to read her mind to know it would be something excessive & obscene that came out.
Grabbing the blonde's arm to make her stop, Callie leaned over, and whispered in her ear.
"Arizona, don't", she murmured, trying to avoid looking at the woman in the doorway as she did so, "That's the Nazi…Miranda Bailey, the Game Maker."
Gently pushing Arizona's gaping jaw shut, they both turned, and dressed quickly, all of the while conscious of the woman at the door, and her escort.
After a few minutes of shuffling around, both turned and walked to the door, apprehensive, and contrite, facing the woman who was basically responsible for signing their death sentences.
"Hmph…", came the words from the woman, "You two have caused me a lot of trouble. Let's hope you're worth it."
With that, she strode off, leaving the two women behind her to look at each other in puzzlement, before following her.
"Really? So you're telling me that despite the fact that you two are training to fight to the death, against each other, and you decide to shack up and do goodness only knows what?", shot Bailey, staring down the two women in front of her.
"We didn't actually do—", Arizona spoke up, before she was silenced by a glare from the Nazi.
"Not only that, but you put the entire complex on red alert because you go missing to a love nest in one of your rooms. Last time two tributes ran off together, they killed each other so that they would not have to take part in the games. This may have been in good fun for you, but you could have cost yourselves any privileges you could get."
The woman paused to let her words sink in, then sat down at her desk, her tone quieting a little as she went on.
"However, the Capitol, and the other Games Officials have deemed that your antics could be somewhat useful to them. We will tolerate the…thing…you two have going on, so long as you make it public. Star-crossed lovers have always attracted viewers, which is something we can use. It will help you, if you're not as stupid as you look. Viewers, and strong personalities attract sponsors, which you'll need when you're in there. Still, if you two EVER cause the panic and trouble you did today, I will make sure you do not get any parachutes whatsoever in the Arena…Consider yourselves warned."
Bailey made a gesture for the two women to leave, her eyes still glittering with vexation at the two. Quickly, Callie grabbed Arizona's hand, and made to walk briskly from the room.
"I trust this will all come to the forefront at your interviews.", called Bailey, not turning around as they left.
Arizona bit her lip, and allowed Callie to lead her through the plush hallways to the Tribute's apartments. Training started in an hour, and both were still reeling from the blow dealt to them by Bailey.
Sighing, Callie dropped Arizona's hand, "So, where do we go from here?"
"Did you not hear Bailey? We have to go public, with whatever there is between us. And play up to it in the interviews, and the arena. We have to lie, and exaggerate everything there is. We have to pretend to be head over heels. This is bad…", came the reply.
Stung by Arizona's words, Callie jerked back, "So it hurts you to say you're in love with me?"
A frown appeared on Arizona's face, and she stepped closer to Callie, "Of course not…I just didn't know if you'd be okay with it…We've only known each other for three days, Calliope, and it's a lot to ask of any-one."
Sighing, Callie pulled the smaller woman into an embrace, and buried her face in Arizona's hair.
"What are we going to do Arizona…?", she murmured
"We'll cope, and like Bailey said, this could be good for both of us.", Arizona replied, "Look, the interviews are tomorrow, it can come out them…but it's probably best if we don't see each other until then, to sort things out."
"Okay…"
Drawing Arizona in for a kiss, Callie breathed in the smell of the other woman. It was fresh – coconut & roses – and subtle, gently creeping over the Latina and calming her down.
Pulling away, Callie smiled, "I'll see you in training."
She walked away, to the elevator bank with looking back, though it tore at her to do so.
The whole way there, she felt a pair of now familiar blue eyes burn into her back as she walked.
Arizona.
I hope you enjoyed it, and please review!