AN: Hello everyone, thanks for the great feedback last chapter, here's the next one, I hope you like it!

Arizona's POV:

To say that these past few weeks were perfect would be an understatement. Despite that little ocurrence on my date with Callie, things are going really well. I tried to talk to her about her brother. I wanted to know why she reacted like that and how she was feeling after seeing her brother after all those years, but she would just change the subject and say she was fine. I know she isn't fine, that "fine" isn't the most appropriate word to use when you really are fine. But I decided to let it drop for now, not to push it. If she feels like talking, she will come and talk to me. We're in a relationship after all.

Relationship?

Is that really what this is?

We haven't been out on another date yet, she wants to take me out and make up for the other night – even though I always tell her there isn't anything to make up for – but our schedules aren't in our favor. Business is going better, but there is still a lot to do and it seems like everything is on her shoulders... or at least she makes it seem like that. I've never met someone so invested in work like her and that's something that makes me fall for her even harder. Back at the Harper Plaza people would do hard work, don't get me wrong... but nobody worked as hard as she does or is happy as she is about it. I use to say that I was privileged to get to see her working everyday, it's really cute the way she furrows her brows while reading a document, or the faces she makes while on a phone call as if the person at the other end of the line could see her.

Clara has been asking me non stop how things are going between us... and everytime I tell her the same thing:

"We're good, Clara. Just like we were the last time you called." I tell my friend, with my phone held between my cheek and my shoulder while I organize some papers for Callie's next meeting.

"What do you mean just like you were?" She asks. "No step foward?"

"What are you trying to say?" I ask, even though I already know where this is heading.

"Sex, Arizona, I'm talking about sex." She yells at the phone, making me assume she's probably at home. "You haven't had sex yet?"

"Whoa, calm down... we're taking it slow." I answer. I have to say that sometimes it's hard to stop when it's getting good. Sometimes we're all over each other and when I attempt to make a move to take it a little further, she just turns me down.

"You're taking it way too slow, the way you used to talk to me about her... I didn't give it a week until you'd have your head between her legs."

"Clara!"

"Oh, what? You are not shy about talking about this stuff. We're both adults, act like it, not like a horny teenager that feels embarrased by hearing the word "sex"." She says making me laugh.

"Well, then I guess it would fit me well. I've been acting like nothing but a horny teenager. It's just... I don't know, I think she's just not ready to take this step. I mean, I don't even know what we are yet."

"What do you mean?" She asks intrigued.

"I mean if I have to introduce her to someone, I don't know how to refer to her. Should I introduce her as a friend? My boss? As Callie? ... As my girlfriend?" I say honestly. This thought had been in my mind for quite a while now and it's good to talk to someone about it, even if it's via cellphone.

"How would you like to refer her?"

"I... I don't..." I take a deep breath... why am I even thinking? "I'd like to refer to her as my girlfriend."

"So do it." She says as if it was the most simple thing in the world.

"You make it sound easy."

"And why isn't it?" She asks.

"Because I don't know if she'd like me to."

"For God's sake, Arizona Robbins!" I can even see her throwing her arm in the air in frustration. "You're so slow! The way that woman looks at you, the way you talk to me about her just... just do it already, ask her... or I'll do it."

"What do you mean, you'll do it? You're trying to steal my girlfriend?" I ask laughing, not even realizing what I just said.

"Can you blame me? She is hot." She answers and before I could say anything else she gets the word. "And see? That's not hard, I bet you didn't even feel you refered to her as your girlfriend."

"You know me too well and it scares me."

"Yeah, I've known you for quite a while now." She laughs.

"Anyways, as much as I love having silly girl talk with you, work still needs to be done. Callie will be here in any minute and I need to get ready for the next meeting."

"Alright. We're still up for drinks on Friday?"

"Sure. See you on Friday."

"See you, bye."

"Bye."

It didn't take too long for me to go back into full business mood. Talking to Clara had been great because it had taken my mind out of the graphics for a little while. And I was in need of a deep breath, Callie is not going to like these numbers at all.

"Callie, calm down." I try to make her stop pacing back and forth, she's been agitated since we started speaking about the month's numbers. But it got me really worried when she started ranting in Spanish and I couldn't get a word of what she was saying.

"Calmarme?!" She turns to me. "How am I supposed to calm down?! Stupid, stupid people who can't seem to be happy with what they have. Stupid people who don't think about consequences. I told them, I warned them, after all this is my job. But no, of course not. Who is going to listen to me? Who is going to listen to a daddy's girl who think that she knows what she's doing? Nobody! That's the answer. But now, who are they going to blame? Who are they going to yell at?"

"Callie, of course not. You're one of their boss, you own part of this place, you're part of the board." I say, placing my hands on her shoulders to stop her from her pacing. "Stop for a little while and think, you're their boss. You have to speak louder."

"Now? They won't take it now. I had to speak louder when they said that buying cheaper furniture was stupid, that only poor hotels would do it. That only a one star hotel would do it. I had to speak louder when Robert came up with that stupid idea of throwing a gala party. That's when I shoud've spoke louder. But now? I'm just the prey and they're the lions."

"Callie, stop making yourself shorter. You'll go in there and you'll show them the numbers and you won't let them put all the responsability on you. You will show them that this is their own fault."

"We'll probably have to cut personel again." She says, staring at nothing. She didn't hear a word I said. "More people will lose their jobs, how am I supposed to put my head on the pillow and get a good night of sleep knowing that people lost their jobs because of-"

"It's not your fault!" I take her head with both my hands to try and make her look at me. But she just looks away. "Calliope, look at me." After a moment of relutance she does as I ask. "It's not your fault," I say, stroking her soft cheek with my thumb. "you are amazing at what you do. You care about people, you don't live thinking just about the now, you think foward, about what consequences each action could bring... in some situations thinking like that isn't good but in this case... in this case it is a gift that not many people have. You're good because you care, but you're not God, honey. You can't make people think like you, see things like you and unfortunatly sometimes because of their stubborness you're the one who pays the price. But you... you can't blame yourself. What you have to do is make them see that they are at fault, you have to show them that a daddy's girl can run a business much better than men all around the world. Show them how amazing you are. Show them that you know what you're doing, act like their boss, make them do what you think it's best. I know this is not the wisest advice I have given in my life but like I said this is different, it's a different situation so go... go and show them who Callie Torres is and how great of a businesswoman you are."

She stares at me for a while, as if processing my words. My hands still on her face, caressing her cheeks. "Did you just call me a daddy's girl?"

That gets a hearty laugh from me. "Did you not listen to anything that I just said?"

"I did." She says with sincerity and a smile that drives me crazy. "Thank you for putting up with my shit."

"You don't have to thank me for trying to make you see yourself the way I see you."

"And how exactly do you see me?" She wraps her arms around me waist pulling me closer to her.

"I see you like..." I stop to pretend to think for a while, hooking my arms around her neck. "I see you like the most amazing woman I've ever met and I also see your big heart. With your smile you can take from me anything you want... okay, I don't think I should've let you know that." I say with a laugh. "And on top of that... you're the hottest boss that I've ever had."

"Hmm, am I?" She asks with a smirk.

"Yeah you know, Avery was okay but he doesn't have what I like."

Our laughter fills the room around us. We stare at each other for a moment. The subject from my earlier conversation with Clara invading my mind.

Should I ask her?

"Shoot it." She says, bringing me out of my thoughts.

"What?" I ask a little confused.

"This look on your face, there's something bothering you. Just tell me." She says, firming her grip on my waist.

"No, it's just that... I... it's nothing, just forget it." I say, trying to drop the subject but she won't let me out that easy.

"Come on, you can talk to me. I know I'm not Clara but... I'm your girlfriend so you can talk to me too."

Her words enter my ears and my arms immediately leave her neck. The expression on her face tells me she's just as surprised as I am.

"Arizona, I... I didn't... I..." She tries to explain, but there's nothing to explain so I just hook my arms around her neck again and kiss her tenderly.

"Say it again." I say, breaking our kiss and resting my forehead on hers.

"I don't know how to say it again, it just came out." She explains. "Not that I didn't mean it, of course I want you to be my-"

"Calliope," I say, placing a finger to her soft - delicious - plump lips to stop her from talking. "Just tell me I'm your girlfriend again."

"You're my girlfriend." She says and before I know it I'm kissing her again.

Callie's kiss is really addicting.

An hour later we found ourselves in the meeting room. The room is full of men that I assume are wearing their best suits. In this world of business it's not just your money that makes who you are, it's also your fancy clothes... but the money has the the biggest weight of course. Callie and I are the only women in the room. I can see some familiar faces in the room like Jackson, Mark, Robert and Callie's father. The other faces I'm not familiar with.

I can see that Callie is tense, looking around the room trying to find an escape. I'm really sorry, honey... but there isn't any. She chances a look at me, I can see she's looking for some sort of support. I wish I could do more, but all I can do is give her a smile and mouth a "good luck" from where I am in the back of the room.

"Well," She says as the last man takes his seat at the table. "I think we can start now." She takes a deep breath, lowers the light in the room and puts on the first slide.

I watch her explain the slides to them graphic after graphic. It's possible to see people in the room start to get agitated with the low numbers that continue to appear.

The lions are ready to attack.

"Ms. Torres," a tall blonde man located in the middle of the table says. "I'm afraid to say it, but there has to be something wrong in your graphics. The numbers are way too low, by this time of the year and with the merger they were supposed to be higher."

"I agree with you, Mr. Côrtez, the numbers should be higher but the reason why they're this low isn't because there is something wrong with my graphics, what made them low were the unnecessary expenses we had these past few months."

"Unncessary expenses?" Another man in the room asks. "I don't think buying new furniture for the hotel should be considered unnecessary."

"No, of course not. What is unnecessary is the kind of furniture that you gentlemen chose. There were other options, cheaper options... but I recall that you didn't prefer that kind."

"Of course we didn't agree." Robert spoke up, the tension in the room rose now that the "big boss" started talking. "Only poor hotels would use that kind of forniture. We have a name, Ms. Torres, a name we built with our sweat and blood and we're not going to throw it away by buying cheaper forniture because of money. Our clients aren't any people, they're influent people that come here, people from all around the world. We can't give them cheap towels, beds or couches. They deserve the best we can offer."

"Exactly, the best we can offer... and that kind of funiture that was bought? We can't offer that in the situation of this company is nowadays. Maybe in the future, closer than we think but not right now."

"So you're saying we should give our clients any cheap-"

"Can we stop, for at least a second stop thinking about what our clients are going to think and look at the bigger picture?"

"Stop thinking about what our clients think? It's their opinion that matters, not yours, Ms. Torres." An older man in the front of the room said. I wanted to stand up and punch him, how dare he talk like that to my girlfriend.

"Then I'm afraid the graphics will be looking like this for a long time." She says simply, making the room that had gotten agitated calm down with everyone turning their attention to her.

"What do you suggest, Calliope?" Her father asks.

"My suggestion to make things a little better for now," she flips to the next slide. "is to cancel the order of the new furniture and make a new one, order the ones I suggested last month."

"We can't do that, can we?" Avery asks intrigued.

"Of course we can." She replies with a smile. "We order this furniture and we won't need to cut personel. It's cheaper but it's good quality, we can order better furniture when the situation makes it possible to do so. Also, no more parties, or dinners or brunches or whatever... unless they're fundraising."

"If we do any fundraising stuff our competition will see that we're going down." Mr. Torres said.

"Unless we won't. Let's cut some costs, cancel that furniture order, make this new one and check back in five months. If we do this, in five months our graphics will be out of the red."

Some of the men in the room tried to protest but as soon as Mr. Torres made some calculations and showed them the results that this change could bring, everyone agreed.

The smile on Callie's face was priceless, she nailed that meeting.

"That was pretty hot." I whisper in her ear as I approach her from behind. "Callie, your father wants to see you in his office." I say louder so people wouldn't think twice about me being this close to her.

"Thank you." She says. God, I wish I could kiss her right now. "I'll talk to you when I'm done with him and maybe we could get lunch?"

"Did I hear lunch?" Mark butts in.

"Yes and you're not invited." Callie says, pushing him aside.

"Come on Calliope, don't be mean... let him sit with us today."

"Yes, Calliope, let me have lunch with you cool people." He mocks my tone, making me regret asking Callie to let him come with us.

"Don't call me Calliope." She says. "And okay, you can join us. And Avery too, where is he?"

"He is in your father's office, I just came from there."

"Really? Avery?" I ask. I know there never was anything between them but it didn't make it any better that the people at work thought so.

"Come on, Arizona, he's my friend too. And you have nothing to worry about, you know that those rumors aren't true. I thought you had realized that after I got you in the kit-"

"Okay, okay. He can come." I say before she lets out what we did in front of Mark. Not that it was much but it was the hottest thing we've done so far.

"Hey, let her finish!" Mark whines.

"Keep dreaming, pretty boy." I mock him.

"Okay, I should go. I'll see you guys for lunch." Callie says as she leaves.

"You know, you can still use that napkin." He says.

"Can you blame me?"

He just laughs at me.

Half an hour later Mark and I are still waiting for Callie and Jackson to come back so that we could go and eat lunch. Sensing this is a good time to get some things clear, since Mark has known Callie since they were kids, I decide to tell him about the other night when Javier knocked on Callie's door.

His reaction surprised me as much as Callie's.

"He didn't have the right, not after everything." Mark says with anger, the vein in his neck pulsing frantically. "Why didn't she tell me?"

"I-I don't know... she hasn't been talking to me about it either. I didn't get her reaction. For a brief moment I thought she was happy to see him and in the other she was kicking him out. I was lost."

"I wish I was there to kick him out myself."

"Mark, what has he done? Why did she react like that? I didn't get it, I felt guilty for letting him in because I thought she would be happy to see him. If I could see my brother again I would be happy."

"He hurt her when he left, Arizona." He takes a deep breath, taking his seat back on the couch across from me. "She was five years old when he left, he was her hero and she was devastated when he left.

"But did he tell her why he left? I mean, he wouldn't decide to leave out of nowhere... would he?"

"Things at the Torres mansion were weird, even before I was friends with Callie I could sense it. It was never the same after her mom died." He explained. "She had her father and her sister but Javier was her rock and when he left... she fell. We don't know why he left... and he didn't just walk out the door and never come back. He did come back a few times, then he moved away and just called but after a while he stopped calling. I remember my mother saying that he was too young to leave his house and if when I were his age I decided to leave she would hunt me down and bring me back by my ears." This gets a little laugh from the both of us. "You know, I shouldn't be telling you this, she is the one who should but I know how Torres is and she won't open up to you about it soon... or maybe she will, I don't know. You guys seem to really like each other and I'm really happy that she is happy, thank you for making my little sister happy, Arizona." I was touched, I guess it was the first time he called me by my name, which meant he was dead serious. "Just be patient, wait until she comes along... don't pressure her, it will only make her lock down and you will get nothing. Give her time."

"I will." I tell him with a smile. "Is this story that you mentioned that night... on her birthday?"

"Oh no... that's a different one and that one I am not telling you. But I know her, eventually she will tell you. And it won't be easy on her, so just make sure to be there when she needs you."

We stayed in the room for a little longer until the door cracked open.

"Finally, I'm starving. I thought you guys were going to stay there forever." Mark says getting up from his seat on the couch and grabbing his jacket.

Callie's face was the first thing I noticed. It wasn't the glowy face that she had on earlier, something was up.

"Calliope, what's wrong?" I ask with concern, for sure it wasn't something good.

"We just came from a meeting with my father and Mr. Torres." Jackson said.

"We know." Mark answered now that he realized the mood wasn't good.

"It appears that Robert wanted to do a dinner at his house... to celebrate Jackson's and mine engagement."

"What?!" My jaw dropped, that wasn't what I was expecting at all. "No. No... no way." Was all I could say.

"That's excatly what I said." Callie responded looking at me in the eyes,I could feel my face getting red with anger.

"And what did he say?"

"We had a hell of an argument and I told him this was not going to happen because we weren't together." Callie said. "We spoke up. They can't decide what we should do, we're not little toys that they can play around and do whatever they want with. Plus, I told them that I'm seeing someone and that I am happy... very happy." She says, coming closer to me and taking my hand in hers.

"It's Arizona?!" Jackson asks really suprised.

"Yes, Jackson... it's Arizona." She replies, placing a kiss to my cheeks. "Thank you," she whispers in my ear. "for those words earlier, I wouldn't have been able to face them if it wasn't for you."

"You don't have to thank me." I reply with a sweet smile.

"Girls, as much as your little interaction turns me on-"

"Mark! Gross!" Callie yells.

"Sorry." He says, really meaning it, I think don't think he had even noticed that he said that out loud. "Anyways, let's go to lunch to celebrate Torres kicking asses today and your break up." He says pointing to Callie and Jackson making all of us laugh.

"Let's go!" I say.

As we are in the elevator Callie's phone rings letting her know that there is a new message.

You can't run from me forever. – J

"Is everything okay?" Mark asks, Callie hands her phone to me and I hand it to Mark. "Is it him?" He asks and I just nod.

"You told Mark?" She asks me, letting go off my hand. CRAP!

"I... I did, I was worried." I say in defence.

"You-"

"Torres, don't." Mark says with a serious tone. "Don't take this out on her. You're shooken up because of the text, it's not her fault... she was worried like hell and she didn't have anyone to talk to about it."

I freeze for a little while, I don't know how to react to this.

She takes a deep breath and looks into my eyes. "I'm not used to someone being worried about me... thank you." She takes my hand once again and gives it a light squeeze.

"Will anyone fill me in?" Jackson asks.

"It's a long story, Jackson." Mark says and Jackson takes the hint not to push the subject.

"Can we talk about this later?" I see him whispering into Callie's ear but making it possible for me to hear it too.

She just nods her head and a single tear rolls down her face.

AN: So, what do you guys think?

AN: I don't know if this is an appropriated place to say this but anyways... I created an account on tumblr, just to post some short Calzona fics, they're not beta-ed so the updates come faster, you know, just in case you want something to read while you wait for "The Deal" to be updated. The URL is: heycoralinafics . tumblr . com