Okay, so the original chapters have all been uploaded. From here on out, this is all new stuff. Thanks to those who have stuck around. Means a lot.
Characters belong to Shonda. The rest is mine.
Chapter Eight
CALLIE'S POV
I'm so mad at Steph right now. Seething. How dare she walk on in here and just assume that it is okay to do so. Sure, she's my manager but that isn't acceptable. Especially not now that my wife is here. I hate to admit it, but I'm worried that Arizona is right. I'm worried that Steph could become another Claire. I cannot allow anyone to ever come between us like Claire did and Steph needs to know that her behavior is totally wrong. Wrong, and then some. Like, why would anyone actually do that? Why would anyone just bring themselves into a hotel room regardless of who is inside? I have to meet with her today because her actions have been on my mind all night. If I don't talk this out with her soon, it will eat away at me and my head will be a mess. I don't need that. Not when I have a tour to get through. If I don't lay my expectations all out now, I'll lose Arizona. I know I will.
Pulling myself from the super king-size bed I've shared with my wife all night, I glance up to find her sitting in the window and watching me. Her camera in her hand, I give her a small smile and she throws me a wink. "You look so peaceful when you're sleeping…"
"Yeah?" I furrow my brow. "I don't feel peaceful." Noticing the tone of my voice, Arizona approaches me and gives me a questioning look. "Sorry, I just didn't sleep too well last night."
"I know." She gives me a sad smile. "Why, though?"
"Because of what happened with Steph yesterday." I shrug on my robe. "I just…I don't know."
"I'm sure it was just a misunderstanding." My wife leans in and presses a kiss below my ear. "Don't stress thinking about it, Callie."
"A misunderstanding?" I raise my eyebrow. "You were ready to rip her head off her shoulders…"
"But she apologized and I'm okay now." She smiles. "Besides, I've slept since it all happened and today is a new day. A beautiful day with my beautiful wife."
"Smooth," I smirk. "Today could get quite busy but I promise to make as much time for you as possible."
"I'm here to be invisible, remember?" She gives me a knowing look. "You do what you have to do and I'll just be here in the background."
"I don't want you in the background, though." I sigh. "I want you very much visible with your hand in my own."
"Me too, but we are both here to do our jobs, right?" Taking my hand in her own, Arizona sets her camera down and it feels good to see it in her hands again. It's been a while since she's done any shoots and I know its what she loves most about her job. Before she took the position as editor, she traveled the world. She saw places people could only ever dream of seeing. Now, she is stuck behind a desk and sending other people away to those beauty spots and hidden destinations. "What?" She recognizes the look in my eyes.
"I was just thinking about you…" I smile. "I mean, I'm always thinking about you but when you have a camera in your hand, you look at peace."
"Mm, I am." She nods, her gaze dropping. Something isn't right with her. She loves her job, but today, it seems like she isn't so sure. "Just…never mind." She shakes her head and I wrap my arms around her waist before she has the chance to bolt from in front of me.
"What is it?" I tighten my grip. "What's going on inside of that head of yours?"
"N-Nothing." She waves off my concern. "So, plans for the day?"
"Nothing until you tell me why you are thinking so hard about something." Brushing my thumb across her cheek, she leans into my touch. "You're so beautiful, you know that, right?"
"Calliope, it's nothing." Her eyes close. "I'm just thinking about how different things have become."
"Different?" I furrow my brow. "What do you mean?"
"When we met, I was a photographer and nothing more…" She sighs. "Sometimes I wish I could go back to that."
"You don't like your job?" I feign surprise but I know in my heart Arizona isn't as happy as she used to be. "Huh?"
"It's not that I don't like it." She sighs. "I just…I wish I didn't have the responsibility. Being editor isn't as enjoyable as I thought it would be."
"You just want to take pictures, don't you?" I give her a genuine smile. "I can see it in your eyes…"
"Am I that obvious?" She scoffs. "I'm pathetic."
"No, you're not." I disagree. "What you are, though…is someone who is passionate about her work. Someone who wants to be in the thick of it, not sitting behind a desk." Pulling her towards the window, I don't want to get ready to face the day just yet. I know I should but I need my wife to be okay before I even think about heading to my soundcheck. Turning her in my arms, Arizona's back is now pressed against my front. "You never did strike me as someone who spends her time behind a desk."
"Because it's not me, Calliope." She admits. "It never has been. It just…when we split, it was easier and I agreed way too quickly. Being alone with beautiful views left me with way too much time to think, so I took it."
"But we aren't split, anymore," I whisper against the skin of her neck. "We are married and you know that I'll support any decision you make."
"I don't have a decision to make." Her voice breaks. "I just have to get on with it."
"Like hell you do." I scoff. "If you aren't happy with your job, then I'm not happy," I state. "What do you truly want to do, Arizona?"
"Be a photographer…"
"So, do it." I hold her close and she relaxes against me. "Do whatever the hell you want to do."
"I can't." She shakes her head. "If I go back to my old job, we would never see each other." Damn it. She's right, but if it's what she wants to do, then I can sacrifice our time for her. I'd do anything to make her happy and I hope she knows that. "While I'm here, everything is perfect. Once this tour is over, I will go back to Seattle and be with you…as an editor."
"But that isn't what you want, Arizona." I furrow my brow as she turns her head and studies my face.
"No, but you are who I want and simply going back to my old job would jeopardize that." She gives me a sad smile. "I can live with being the editor if it means I get to spend my evenings with you. At home. Sharing dinner."
"You shouldn't have to sacrifice your happiness for us…" My voice breaks. "We will figure it out. We will manage."
"I don't want to simply manage, Calliope." She turns in my arms and presses her lips to my own. "I want a happy marriage regardless of how I feel about my job. It's just a job, I'll survive."
"Just…think about it, okay?" I raise an eyebrow. "We have two months together on this tour and you may feel totally different about it by the end. You may decide that the craving of having your Nikon in your hands is just too much to let go of."
"I love you." She rests her head against my chest. "You're amazing…"
"So are you, beautiful." I run my fingers through soft blonde curls. "So are you…"
Stepping into the hotel lobby from the elevator, Arizona has stayed back in our room and I think she is feeling a little down right now. I get it, though. There is nothing worse than doing a job you hate. If I suddenly hated my music one day, I know I would quit. It may bring home the dollars, but if it doesn't make you happy…what is the point? I just want whats best for my wife and if that means she has to travel once again, then so be it. We are strong enough to get through anything after what we have already faced. We both know that. Thankfully, I have her to myself for a little while longer. Whatever she decides, I've got her back. She knows that.
Heading for my manager, she is sitting with an uncertain smile on her face and she knows that I'm about to tear her a new one. I'm still super mad at her, regardless of whether my priority is Arizona right now. My wife may be all that's on my mind, but Steph needs taking down a notch. She is new to this and I have a lot of years on her in this business. I don't need a babysitter. I just need someone who is here and doing their job. A job that doesn't include being on my case 24/7.
"Callie, hi." Steph stands and clears her throat. "Good morning?" She asks.
"Could have been better." I drop down into my seat and glance up at her. "Are you sitting, or?"
"S-Sorry, yeah." She laughs. "So, tonight…"
"No!" I hold up my hand. "I'm not interested in tonight right now. We can discuss that at the venue…like we usually do."
"O…kay." Steph furrows her brow. "Is everything okay?"
"What do you think?" I scoff. "You think that what happened yesterday was okay? You think you can just walk into my hotel room like that?"
"Callie, I've done it before…" She sighs. "You didn't seem concerned then."
"Don't be a smart ass, Steph." I give her a knowing look. "Arizona is here now and I don't need you showing up at our room uninvited. Hell, I don't need you just walking in, either."
"It won't happen again." She breathes out. "I've already apologized and I don't really think we need to go back over it again. We have more important things to be concerned with."
"My wife is the most important thing to me." I state. "I swear if you mess this up for us, I'll have you gone in seconds."
"Mess what up?" She gives me a look of confusion.
"You remember I told you that we've had issues in the past?" I run my fingers through my hair as I settle back in my seat, trying to calm my tone and my mood. "During my last tour?"
"I do remember, yes." She gives me a nod.
"It was my old personal assistant." Just the thought of her makes me want to cry. She messed so much up for me and I could never forgive her. Never. "She had a thing for me. A thing which caused a world of trouble and eventually, I lost Arizona."
"Wow." Steph's eyes widen. "What happened?"
"I was away on tour…Arizona was back home in Seattle." My past flashing before my eyes, I can remember that look of total heartbreak in her beautiful blue eyes. "We had gone out for drinks one evening and I woke the next morning to find Claire in my bed."
"Oh, Callie." She drops her gaze, a look of disappointment on her face. "You didn't…"
"No, I didn't." I give her an incredulous look. "Claire wouldn't tell me what had really happened and we were both pretty much naked. I just…I had to be honest with Arizona. I had to explain what had happened, or at least, what I thought had happened."
"You told her you'd slept with her?" Steph asks.
"I told her I didn't know if I had." I sigh. "Because I didn't and I couldn't bear to have it eat away at me any longer."
"That's really honest of you." My manager smiles. "I'm not sure I could have done that."
"She left me." My voice breaks. "She wouldn't answer any of my calls. She just…she left me in that hotel room and got a flight back to Seattle. It was months before I saw her again. Months before she would even speak two words to me."
"It hit her hard, huh?"
"Ya think?" I scoff. "Claire admitted everything the night Arizona left me but it was too late. The fact that I didn't know what had happened didn't sit well with my wife but I couldn't blame her. How could she trust me if I didn't even trust myself? How could she just forgive me when anything could have happened in that room without me knowing?"
"Understandable." Steph nods. "So, she eventually heard you out?"
"Yeah." I smile. "I couldn't end my tour and I couldn't postpone. It was a sellout." I toy with the empty wine glass in front of me. "I wrote to her but she didn't respond. I called. I text. Just…nothing. I got nothing from her whatsoever." Remembering the first time I saw her after all those months apart, my stomach flips. "I sent her one final letter and told her I was letting her go."
"But you didn't…"
"No, I couldn't." A small smile settles on my face when I think about the woman who is locked away in this hotel. She's so beautiful and she's mine. "The moment my tour ended, I flew back to Seattle and thankfully, we worked things out. I can't even remember how it happened or why it happened, but it did."
"That's quite some story, Cal." Steph sits forward, her elbows resting on the table between us. "I'm glad she heard you out."
"Me too." I agree. "So, you can see why this needs to stop."
"I promise I'll back off, okay?" She gives me a genuine smile. "When you aren't working, you aren't my concern."
"I'm glad we understand each other." Holding out my hand, she takes it in her own and gives it a firm shake. "Arizona is beautiful inside and out, but we've been through it. Hell, she's been through enough for the both of us."
"How do you mean?"
"You remember the attack in my home last year?" I raise an eyebrow. "I don't know if you heard about it in the media?"
"I did but they never gave much detail. They didn't give a name."
"It was Arizona who was attacked." I drop my gaze. "My ex stabbed her and she flatlined a few times."
"No way…"
"Yeah." I release a deep breath. "She almost died in my arms…"
"Jesus, Cal." Steph furrows her brow. "You guys have really been through it."
"We have but we are here and we are better than ever." My smile beams. "Nothing and no one can break us."
"Oh, amen to that." My manager raises her glass of wine. "I've got your back, Cal. Both of you."
"I appreciate that, Steph." Standing, I fix my jacket around me a little better. "I'll meet you at the venue at three, yeah?"
"Perfect." She gives me a nod in agreement. "I'll have an area set up for Arizona."
"That would be awesome." Throwing her a wave over my shoulder, I head for the elevator that will take me back to my wife. The woman of my dreams. The absolute love of my life. Stepping inside, it shoots me up ten floors and the doors open on the private landing of the penthouse suite. Swiping my keycard down the door, it grants me access and I push the heavy wood open. Arizona is settled on the bed watching a movie and I have a little over three hours before I have to leave and do what I do best. "Hey…" Slipping my jacket from my shoulders, she looks my way and motions for me to join her. "You doing okay?"
"Mm, I am now that you're here." She smiles into a kiss. "Everything go okay?"
"Perfect." I nod. "Steph is having a private area set up for you tonight."
"That would be great." My wife gives me a thankful smile. "You weren't too hard on her, were you?"
"No, I just told her how it went last time and she agreed to keep her distance when I'm not working." Settling down beside Arizona, she leans into me and hums in satisfaction.
"I've missed this." She admits. "Snuggling with you."
"Me too." Wrapping my arm around her, Arizona curls her body around me and relaxes.
"How long do I have you for?" Her voice a little tired, I glance at the clock and tighten my grip on her body.
"I don't have to leave for another three hours."
"Perfect." She whispers. "We're not moving until then…"
Thanks for reading, guys. Reviews are welcome and appreciated as always.