I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! In my defence, I've been doing 10-15 flights every week, and I'm super tired! Summer is kinda crazy in the aviation industry :P

This is the 1st part of chapter 9. I was going to wait until it was all finished, but I've made you all wait long enough, so the 2nd part will follow later. Enjoy!

Previously:

The surgeon pouted as their lips parted again.
"You'd better have Skype on your trip. I don't know if I can go a whole five days without seeing your face."

Arizona smiled, linking her fingers with Callie's.
"New York will be fine, but the different time zones in Paris might be a little more interesting."

"We'll make time, right?" Callie asked. Aware that she could be moving too quickly, she looked to Arizona for reassurance. Blue eyes sparkled back in return.

"Definitely."

Chapter 9 A

"All set?" Mark asked as he set his tray down in the cafeteria, taking a seat next to Callie and Bailey. He felt for them. With only a week before taking their medical boards they had the added pressure of the merger to contend with and it was clearly getting to both of them.

"Sure. I know everything I'm going to know. What I don't know is if it'll do a damn bit of good." Bailey huffed, pushing food around her plate as Callie sighed.
"You're safe, Bailey. You're the chief's favorite."

"I don't think anybody's safe." The short surgeon murmured, deciding that she'd had enough of her lunch before excusing herself to head back to work. Mark watched as Callie stabbed at her salad with her fork.
"Do you want to come to mine tonight and study?" He offered.

"No."

"Do you want to have a Skype session with Blondie?" He smirked.

Callie shrugged as she popped the skewered food into her mouth.
"Is it crazy for me to miss her already? I mean we've known each other…what, two weeks? Plus she's only been gone one night."

Arizona had called the minute she had landed in New York. Her flight had been delayed and they'd had some rather roudy passengers onboard, so after a very brief chat Callie had urged Arizona to turn in, with the promise that they would talk before her flight to Paris.

"You care about her. That's not crazy." Mark surmised, digging in to his sandwich.

"You don't think it's too soon? I mean we're not even officially dating. She's not my girlfriend."

"Do you want her to be?" the plastic surgeon asked.

Callie pondered the question as she swallowed her food. Wasn't it too soon to be having this discussion? All they'd done was kiss. But if there was a chance that Arizona was as interested in Callie as Callie was with her, why shouldn't they give it a shot?

The brunette was pulled from her thoughts by Mark chuckling. "You really care about her."

Callie pouted, stabbing him playfully with her plastic fork. She hated how well her knew her.

"Why do I get the feeling you'd rather be Skyping Callie than me?" Teddy chuckled. The pilot had just returned home from a three-day trip to South America and was catching up with Arizona before her flight to Paris.

Arizona had the decency to at least look incredulous as she smiled widely.

"Is it obvious that I miss her that much?"

Teddy nodded, moving her laptop onto her lap as she crossed her legs on the couch. "Well since you've not shut up about her in the last 10 minutes and you've got the happiest smile on your face, I'm going to say yes, it's very obvious." Teddy teased. In reality she was over the moon for her best friend. Arizona deserved someone who would treat her better than Joanne had and she was excited to meet Callie.

Arizona sighed as she combed through her wet hair.

"I don't know Teds. I like her. A lot. Probably too much. What if I scare her off?"

"Too much?" Teddy pressed.

"Yeah, I mean we've known each other a few weeks and already I can't stop thinking about her. I know that would freak me out."

Teddy smiled.

"Or maybe she likes you just as much as you already like her."

The flight attendant laughed.

"Please, I'm not that lucky."

Callie cursed as she glanced at her watch. She'd told Arizona she would call earlier but a 911 had emerged and just hoped that Arizona would understand. Closing the door to the residents lounge, Callie opened her laptop and noticed a missed Skype call from the blonde. Sighing, she tried to call her again, praying that she was still there. After a minute or so passed, the video connected and she was met with Arizona in her full uniform, her hair perfectly sculpted and her makeup perfectly applied. She was fixing her pearl studs to her earlobes.

"Hey stranger." She smiled.

"Hey, emergency surgery, I'm sorry. How long do you have?"

Arizona pouted.

"My ride arrives in 10 minutes."

The surgeon sighed.
"I'm sorry. Stupid patient."

Arizona laughed, settling herself on the chair on her room.
"Did they at least survive?"

"Oh yeah, I rocked it." Callie smiled proudly. "You look amazing by the way."

She watched as Arizona blushed.
"In this?"

"Well in everything, but yeah, that uniform is hot." She glanced down at her work attire.
"Much hotter than scrubs!"

Arizona smirked.
"I don't know; there's something sexy about scrubs on you. That's probably got more to do with you than the scrubs though."

The blonde watched as the surgeon's face brightened.
"How is your studying going?"

Callie's face dropped again as she shook her head.
"It's fine, but Bailey's right, we know we know everything we need to know, we just don't know if it'll do us any good."

"I get that. It must be hard. Do you know where your Boards will be yet?"

Callie nodded.
"Yeah, Chicago. They're sorting out our flights now."

Arizona smiled. After returning from this trip, she was scheduled for one overnight to Chicago, and she had a feeling that their dates would line up nicely, for once, but she didn't want to tell the brunette in case things were changed last minute.

Callie pouted as Arizona's phone buzzed.
"Time to go?"

Arizona nodded, swiftly answering her phone and telling the driver she would be a few minutes. After tossing the phone down, she sighed.
"I'll call you when I get to Paris."

Callie smiled softly.
"Please do. I…I miss you."

She watched over the webcam as blue eyes widened and dimples popped on the blonde's cheeks.
"I miss you too."

Callie beamed. She was glad that she'd said it now, knowing that Arizona felt the same way. The next few days away from the blonde were going to be hard.
"I'll let you go. Have a safe flight, ok?"

Arizona nodded.
"I will. Go home and get some sleep. And study and be awesome. I'll try to talk to you from Paris, ok?"

When Arizona awoke the next morning she had a message from Callie.

Hey beautiful, thanks for letting me know you got to Paris safely; I hope your flight was ok. These Boards might be the death of me! Finally crashing in an on-call room now.

Enjoy Paris!

C x

Arizona smiled before typing a quick reply. She had agreed to spend the day sight-seeing with Meredith as it was her first time in Paris, so she was sure that she would be sending a ton of pictures Callie's way.

After ordering room service, Arizona decided to jump into the shower. When she was finished, she heard a loud and persistent knocking at her door. Opening it expecting her breakfast, she pouted when she realized it was only Meredith.

"Don't look so disappointed!" Meredith grinned, holding out a box.
"I come with croissants. I've been awake since 6am so I went in search of coffee and found these."

Arizona chuckled, letting the younger flight attendant into her room.
"And yet you don't come bearing coffee for your boss. I'll remember this, Grey."

"Please, you don't need coffee, you're perky enough without it." Meredith winked, plopping herself down on one of the chairs by the window.
"I'm in love with this city already and all I've seen is the view from the windows."

Arizona nodded, taking a croissant from the box and biting down into the soft and flaky pastry.
"You'll be even more in love once we get out there. Why do you think I get so excited when I see this on my roster?" Arizona grinned, jumping from the bed as she heard a much quieter knock at her door.

"Voici votre petit déjeuner." The gentleman spoke as Arizona allowed him to wheel the cart into the room.

"Oh merci, ça sent incroyable!" She thanked him, waving as he closed the door.

Meredith shot Arizona a glance as she poured them both some coffee. She'd heard the Purser speaking in French on their flight yesterday but hadn't had a chance to question her.
"Since when do you speak French?"

"Since I was little, my dad was a marine so we've been stationed all over the place. We were stationed in the south of France for nearly two years." She explained.

Meredith smirked.
"That's neat. You going to use that to get into Callie's pants?"

The blonde nearly choked on her much-awaited beverage.
"Oh my God, Mer, really?!"

I hope you're all still with me! Let me know by hitting that review button :) [I aced French at school, but I'm probably rusty now, so apologies if I just butchered it :P]