Arizona now felt there was hope to fix this mess she had made with Callie. Nevertheless, she had to take care of her slightly bigger mess first, so she went on the computer to check her e-mail.

Joanne had sent numerous encrypted files. Arizona opened them one by one, and printed them out.

She browsed through all of them to see if there was something that caught her eye. Nothing did, but Arizona was not discouraged because she knew that seeing patterns and solving problems sometimes took some time. She decided to sit down and read them through more carefully.

Callie had never arrived this early to work, and was hence welcomed by a surprised look from her boss. "Callie, do you know what time it is?"

"Yeah, I just couldn't sleep, and thought I might as well go in" She tried to give Bailey a convincing smile, but didn't really succeed.

Bailey could see there was something else behind Callie's early arrival, but did not want to pry. Callie went into the combined locker/lunch room to change.

She had had some time to think in her car, but what she really wanted to do was talk to someone about this, to help her decide what to do. Callie of course thought of Mark, but didn't know how to explain all this to him. She did really need to talk to her best friend though, and thought she could perhaps talk to him about it, without telling him everything. So, she sat down in a corner and dialed Mark's number.

It took a few signals for him to answer. "Hello?!" He answered hoarsely.

"Hey, it's me. Sorry I woke you."

"Callie? A bit early for you isn't it." He said more as a statement than a question.

"I know, it's just... I need to talk to you about something." She almost regretted that she had called him now that she faced the reality of having to tell him, at least parts of, what had happened.

"Well it must be pretty important if you call me this early. Shoot."

"Um... it's about... eh..." She wasn't sure how to start.

"Arizona." Mark beat her to it.

Callie raised her eyebrows. "Yeah. How did you know?"

"Callie, did you really think I bought that whole 'old-friend-from-college' story?!"

Callie couldn't help but smile. "I knew there was a reason you are my best friend."

"Ditto. So, tell me, did you fight, is she not ready to be exclusive, or is she married?"

Callie snorted at Mark's questions. "We sort of had a little fight this morning. And I don't know what to do. I feel like she doesn't trust me, and this morning I found out that she had lied about something and it made me feel I don't trust her completely either. I tried to make her tell me about it, to tell me the truth, but she didn't even answer me. But then she tells me how she thinks I'm a beautiful, and wonderful woman, and she never meant to hurt me, and foolish as I am I can't help to believe her. I don't know what to do Mark, she offered to leave, but I told her she could stay, and then I went to work.

"Are you at work now?" Mark asked.

"Yeah, I'm sitting in our lunch room, and thought I'd call you before the others come in. But what do I do about Arizona?! The last twelve hours have been a roller-coaster to say the least: first I think that we could only be friends, then it turns out she plays on my team, we have great sex, and then this happened, and now I don't know what the hell I'm doing."

"Good for you, you needed to get laid!"

Callie sighed. "I'm glad you're focusing on the right things here Mark."

"Sorry, but it's true. OK, so what you're saying is that she hasn't told you everything about herself? That's not really a big deal since I take it you haven't known each other long?"

"Fine, you have a point, but she lied to me. And she lied about a little stupid thing, which was totally unnecessary." Callie pointed out.

"But if it was only a little stupid thing, what was the big deal?" Mark wondered.

"But it wasn't only that she had lied, it was the way I found out about it." Callie insisted, but didn't want to go into details about it, so she stopped there.

Mark was quiet for a few seconds. "Look, I can't tell you it wasn't a big deal if you feel it was. All I'm saying is, given your history with lies, maybe you are more sensitive to when people aren't a hundred percent truthful to you. But Callie, people lie, all the time, but the good thing is that usually they are white lies; things we say to avoid people getting hurt or to avoid unnecessary arguments. It doesn't mean that someone is cheating on you, or that they don't love you or care about you." Mark made sure that the last sentence sounded genuine.

Callie listened, and felt her heart sting a little at the part about the cheating, but she did take in what Mark was saying.

"I think you should sit down and talk about why you reacted the way you did, but you should also tell Arizona that she needs to compromise and tell you more about herself, and not lie if it isn't absolutely necessary, if she wants a relationship with you."

Callie knew Mark had a point. "Mark. I love you."

"I love you too."

"Thank you for being such a good friend, and I don't know what I would do without you." Callie felt her eyes tearing up again.

"Callie, you know I feel the same way about you. We make a good team you know."

Alex walked in, but stopped in his tracks when he saw Callie sitting on the floor. Callie hurriedly ended the conversation with Mark telling him she would call him back later because she had to work.

Callie greeted Alex, and he asked her if she was alright. Callie assured him that she was, now. Alex put on his work shirt and at the same time asked Callie why she was there so early. Callie told him what she had told Bailey; she didn't want there to be different stories for her colleagues to compare.

Arizona had began to sort the files and reports in different piles based on what she thought to be similarities. Except for the marking 485, which told her Stevens had been the SAC on all of them. There were certain aspects Arizona thought might lead her to understand what she was missing about them, something that would help her plan her next move.

She had been at this for hours when she realized she hadn't eaten anything today. She looked at the piles and figured she needed some food to make her be able to concentrate. So, she went to the kitchen and found some ingredients to make herself a sandwich.

While sitting there eating her sandwich, her mind wandered off to what had happened this morning with Callie. Arizona again felt guilty about making Callie feel that way. She also thought about what they had experienced together right before that, which made her feel everything else but guilt. The fact that she truly felt something for Callie only added to her guilty conscience.

Arizona tried to remember the last time she had felt this way about another person. What had it been like with Joanne? She concluded that one of the reasons it ended with Joanne, at least on her side, was the lack of the same emotions she was experiencing with Callie now. The things Arizona had said about Callie this morning were absolutely true; she was a beautiful, and intriguing woman. Arizona couldn't wait to know more about her, both on a psychological as well as a physical level.

Arizona imagined what it would be like to be closer to Callie, to have a relationship with her. She smiled. Then she remembered the circumstances and her smile faded. Even though she knew this could not turn out the way she wanted, she needed to make Callie trust her again, and the only way to do that was to take the first step and offer something to Callie that would make her understand why Arizona had lied. But first, the files.

Callie was dealing with a customer when Alex offered to take over so Callie could take her lunch break. Callie was so grateful to Alex for saving her from Mr. Owens who always seemed to not understand that they did not refund empty cans.

She took one of those ready made sandwiches to eat for lunch. She went outside to get some fresh air. She sat down, and as she ate she thought about what Mark had said, and how she was going to talk to Arizona about it. She was glad she had offered Arizona to stay; maybe something in her subconscious knew she needed to give her a second chance.

The files that Arizona had piled up had changed location a number of times since she had eaten that sandwich. She still hadn't found anything conclusive, but she could feel there was something there just waiting to be discovered.

She figured it was a good idea to let it rest for awhile, and then look at it with fresh eyes again later.

Now there was another issue to address. Arizona thought she should be the one to take the first step since she was the one who had messed up. She decided that as a sign of her wanting to make things right, she would go to the store where Callie worked and talk to her there instead of waiting until she got home. She realized it was risky, but it was the only thing she could think of that might change things between them. People around there would not recognize her, and her bruising was pretty much gone, so she wouldn't raise any suspicion with her appearance – other than being a stranger that is.

Since Arizona hadn't been really conscious when Callie had driven her home that first night, she needed to look at a map to guide her where, and how far, to walk. It didn't seem too far, so she printed out the map, put on her shoes, and used a spare key to lock the door behind her when she left.

Callie was at the far back of the store unpacking and stacking up articles on shelves when Arizona entered the store. Arizona looked around to see if she could spot Callie among all the people there, but no luck. Apparently a member of the staff had seen her looking for someone, so she was asked if they could help her with anything. Arizona first said no, but as the person walked away she realized that he would know who Callie was, so she asked if he knew where she was.

Alex looked at the woman and tried to place her somewhere in his memory but couldn't remember that he had ever talked or seen her before. So he tried to ask politely who was asking. Arizona smiled and said she was an old friend from college. Alex was satisfied with that answer and went to get Callie.

He found her with her head in one of the giant boxes filled with toilet paper.

"Someone's asking for you." He said.

"What, why? It's not Mr. Owens is it?" She dreaded having a second encounter with him on the same day.

"No, some woman who says she's an old college friend of yours."

Callie looked incredulously at Alex. "What?!"

"Yeah, pretty, short blond hair. Ring a bell?"

Callie snapped out her moment of surprise. "Yeah. Yes, of course, yes. Coming."

She saw Arizona from afar and couldn't help but feel warmth spreading through her body. She couldn't believe Arizona had come here. On the other hand she kind of wished she hadn't, because it meant this discussion would take place in public, which was nothing Callie wished to experience.

Arizona saw Callie making her way up to her, so she started walking towards her, meeting her halfway.

"Arizona? Is everything alright? Did something happen?" Callie wondered if maybe something else had happened to make her come here and not wait for Callie to come home.

"No, no, nothing happened. I just needed to talk to you."

Callie looked around her to see who was staring at them. Arizona noticed and asked if there was somewhere more private they could talk. Callie said there was and told Arizona to follow her to the lunch room. But when they got there, Smelly-Ray and Charlie were having a late lunch. Callie just offered a courteous hello, and then proceeded to the back door that led outside.

When they were both outside Callie didn't say anything, but looked at Arizona expecting her to give an explanation as to why she had come here.

"I couldn't wait for you to get home to tell you again how sorry I am about what happened this morning." Arizona started.

Callie sighed. She had already heard Arizona apologize, but even though she knew she had overreacted, like Mark had pointed out, she was interested in hearing if Arizona had something more to offer, so she stayed silent.

"Look, I came here because I wanted you to know that I was telling the truth when I said I care about you. And the reason I haven't told you certain things is for the same reason. The reason I was injured is because I am in danger, and I don't want you to risk ending up in the same mess that I am in right now, so I lied to keep you out of it." Arizona turned her side to Callie. She had had some time to prepare a speech on her walk over here, but she was afraid she couldn't go through with it if she saw Callie's reaction while she did.

"Joanne is the only one I trust right now, except from you of course. She is helping me to get out of this situation, and that's why she called this morning, because she had found something that might help me. And like I said this morning it doesn't change anything that happened between us last night. I very much enjoyed that part."

Arizona wasn't sure how to continue, she had gotten as far as she had rehearsed, so she fell silent.

Callie, who had been listening intently to every word Arizona had said, felt her doubts slowly disappear. She thought about what Mark had said about Arizona having to compromise, and Callie thought that this was something along the line of that. But after Arizona's attempt to explain to Callie what everything was about, she felt she needed to ease some of Arizona's apparent guilty conscious. So, she stroked Arizona's arm "I'm sorry too."

Arizona turned her head to look at Callie's hand touching her arm, then she looked up at her face as Callie continued: "I have a history of people lying to me, so I have a tendency to overreact when people lie to me."

Arizona turned her whole body to face Callie's now. She took Callie's hand in hers and assured Callie that she had not overreacted, and that it was entirely Arizona's fault things had turned out the way they did.

Callie suddenly thought about what it was Arizona had said. "But what do you mean you're in danger? Who hurt you?"

Arizona looked down at her feet, then at Callie's face again, and said: "I honestly don't know, Callie."