Disclaimer: I own none of these characters, all belong to Shonda Rhimes
Chapter 2:
Arizona was finishing up some charts when a breathless Callie stopped a few feet in front of her. Arizona's own breath caught in her throat as she took in the beautiful Latina. She was wearing jeans that hugged her curves perfectly, and a loosely fitted red blouse with her hair splayed out across her shoulders. Her make-up was smeared and her face red. Arizona could tell she'd been crying, but even then the woman looked radiant. She had to mentally stop herself from biting down on her lip and keep from ogling. Callie didn't seem to notice.
"How about those drinks…tonight?" Callie asked cautiously.
Arizona swallowed the lump in her throat and responded, "Sure." She cleared her throat and shook her head slightly. "Sure, drinks would be great. I get off in 10-get off work…get off work in 10 minutes." She turned around to continue charting to keep Callie from noticing the color in her cheeks. Callie breathed a sigh of relief and smirked slightly. Then Callie realized she was still standing there staring at Arizona doing charts. Arizona could feel Callie's eyes boring into her, so she closed the chart quickly and said, "Okay, I guess I can get off now."
Callie raised one perfectly shaped eyebrow, amused.
Arizona closed her eyes slightly and bit down on her bottom lip as color rose to her cheeks again. "Shut up, Calliope." She started walking toward the locker room.
Callie followed one step behind chuckling and said, "Hey, I didn't say anything."
"Whatever," Arizona mumbled. Callie sensed her discomfort and quickly changed the subject with, "Hey, how the heck did you know my full name? Nobody knows my name."
Arizona smirked slightly, grateful for the change in subject. "People talk."
Callie chuckled, "Okay, but people don't talk that much."
Arizona gave her a sideways glance and said, "Well, I guess there's a lot of things you don't know about me, Calliope."
"Like you're a stalker?" Callie joked. She realized she already felt better spending 2 minutes with this woman.
Arizona lightly hit her arm and said, "No, Calliope, not like I'm a stalker. It was on one of your charts. Doesn't take a genius to figure that out."
Callie realized she didn't mind when the blonde said her full name. It sounded better somehow coming from her. They reached the locker room and Arizona slipped off her lab coat, while Callie took a seat on the bench. "Well, nobody else seemed to notice my full name on those charts before."
"I notice everything about you, Calliope," Arizona said absentmindedly before her eyes went wide as she stared at the locker.
"Really?" Callie said with much interest and hint of flirtation.
Arizona closed her eyes and scrunched up her face, mentally berating herself for her word vomit. She took a breath and turned to look at Callie and said, "Yes, but don't make me regret saying that and wipe that cocky grin on your face right now."
Callie attempted to stop smiling, but failed miserably, "What? I just find it interesting, that's all."
"Uh huh," Arizona said chuckling as she lifted her blouse over her head. She absentmindedly searched through her locker for clothes, when she sensed a shift in the mood. She turned slowly and found Callie staring unabashedly. Callie realized she was staring, but she couldn't seem to help it. Arizona's toned, long torso was staring right at her. She let her eyes slowly drag upward toward the plump breasts covered in black lace, up her cream-colored chest until she reached Arizona's beautiful face when she realized Arizona had said something. She swallowed the lump in her throat, closed her mouth, before saying, "Huh?"
Arizona smirked, then grinned, dimples full in force and said, "I said…like what you see?"
Callie shook her head as color rose to her cheeks, and swiveled on the bench until she wasn't facing her anymore and said, "I don't—what? I don't know what you're talking about." She's just gorgeous; I'm allowed to notice that. Women are naturally more attractive than men.
Arizona continued to search through her locker and glanced sideways at her, "It's okay," she threw on a blue blouse, having mercy on the poor Latina and continued, "Everyone does. I'm hot."
Callie spun around, grateful Arizona had a shirt on and said, "Oh, and who's the cocky one now?"
Arizona laughed and Callie thought she could listen to that laugh all day. "It's not cocky if it's a fact."
"Alright, you got me there," Callie said lightly as Arizona pulled on jeans under her skirt, before ridding of it completely.
She's straight, Arizona. She's straight. And married. Very married. "Alright, let's get out of here," she said shutting her locker.
Once at Joes, they fell into easy conversation at the bar. They were content and comfortable with one another more than they ever expected. Arizona knew she couldn't avoid the inevitable all night. They had to pop the pretty pink bubble they were living in at the moment.
So once their laughter died down Arizona gently asked, "So…why tonight?"
Callie put her drink down still smiling and asked, "What do you mean?"
Arizona tilted her head slightly saying, "Why did you want to come back for drinks tonight?"
Callie shrugged. "Seemed a good a time as any."
"Calliope…" Arizona said knowingly.
Callie sighed. There it was again. That angelic voice that sang her name in a way that she was sure she'd tell Arizona anything. "Owen…"
"Ah," Arizona said knowingly, "Hold that thought. Two more drinks, Joe. Make it a double." She pointed at Joe, then looked back at Callie saying, "Go ahead."
Callie chuckled nervously and proceeded to tell Arizona just what happened that evening. Arizona never once took her eyes off the Latina and listened so intently that it almost made Callie uncomfortable. Almost. Because mostly it made Callie feel cared for in a way she hadn't in a long time. It was comfortable, easy, yet unnerving. Arizona seemed to swirl so many emotions inside her, Callie could hardly keep up.
"And…" Callie trailed off as she finished her story.
"And what?" Arizona prodded gently.
Callie laughed, "Nevermind. Forget it. It's embarrassing."
" I doubt it," Arizona said not giving up.
"No, it really is," Callie said taking a long swig of her drink.
"Look," Arizona sighed, "It can't be that bad. And I know we haven't really gotten to know each other, but you can trust me. I'm a great friend." Arizona dropped a big dimpled smile in there for good measure.
"So I'm quickly realizing," Callie said with a smile.
Arizona waited patiently.
"Owen and I…we haven't…we haven't had sex in a long time."
Arizona chuckled a little, picking up her drink and asked, "Okay, how long is long?"
Callie hesitated then let out a quiet, "9 months."
Arizona spit out her drink as she began choking.
"Ugh, see I told you," Callie said handing her a napkin.
"No, no," Arizona said reassuringly once she settled, "It's not that bad."
"It's the length of a pregnancy," Callie deadpanned.
Arizona grinned and said, "Okay, so it's been a while. But everyone is different."
"Oh, who am I kidding, you probably just had sex yesterday."
Arizona laughed too fake and said, "No…no I did not." Callie waited while she let Arizona finish. "Okay, two days ago."
"See?" Callie shouted putting her hands up in the air dramatically. Callie didn't understand why, but the thought of Arizona having sex with someone two days ago brought a new kind of anger toward to her.
"Well, then do something about it," Arizona said in an obvious tone. Not that she actually wanted Callie to go have sex. The fact that Callie hadn't only made Arizona more attracted to her in this moment clouded by alcohol.
"I can't exactly just fight with my husband, then randomly have sex with him. And doing it yourself isn't nearly as satisfying, let me tell ya."
Arizona had to literally cross her legs as an image of Callie touching herself popped into her mind. She closed her eyes and swallowed the lump in her throat as she tried to form a response other than the inappropriate "do it with me" answer. She cleared her throat and said, "I'll take your word for it." Okay, so not great. But better than what she would have said.
Callie just nodded.
"So…" Arizona started, "9 months. That is a long time. You must be—
"Horny?" Callie finished, "Yeah, like all the time. Makes my job much more difficult."
Arizona laughed at this and was about to answer when a ginger entered the bar obnoxiously with a booming voice that shouted for Callie. Owen.
The light-hearted mood suddenly dropped immensely as Callie noticed her husband hobbling in, obviously drunk.
"Owen?" Callie all but yelled.
"Callie!" He boomed back, "You can't just leave in the middle of our conversation."
Callie quickly walked over toward him so that they were no longer yelling and said, "Our conversation was over, Owen. You won't get the help you need."
Arizona sat back at the bar quietly watching the argument unfold. She didn't know whether she should leave or not. So she waited. Callie finally looked back at Arizona with an apologetic frown. She held Owen's hand as she walked back over to her.
"I'm gonna have to get him home…I'm sorry I dragged you out here."
"No dragging on this end, Calliope. Pretty sure I skipped beside you," Arizona said lightly.
Callie grinned as her heart fluttered at Arizona's kind words. The moment was broken when Owen said, "You let her call you Calliope? You don't let anyone call you that."
Arizona tried her best to hide her grin, but to no avail.
Callie cleared her throat and changed the subject, "Yeah, so I need to get him home before he does something else stupid."
"I did nothing stupid," he said pointedly.
"You drove drunk, you asshole," Callie said, holding him up as he stumbled, "Would you mind taking my car while I drive him home and then I'll bring you back to yours?" She felt horrible as she pleaded to Arizona.
"Yes, of course!" Arizona said with conviction to assure Callie.
"Thank you so much," Callie breathed a sigh of relief. She was never so grateful for Arizona than in that moment.
When they arrived back at Callie's, Callie put Owen to bed quickly with little argument, and ran back out to meet Arizona at the car. She got in the driver's seat, leaned her head back and closed her eyes as she let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. Arizona just gazed at her with nothing but empathy. When Callie opened her eyes, one tear made its way down her cheek, and all of Arizona's instinct told her to reach out to catch it. So she did. She wiped the lone tear away with her thumb as she grazed Callie's cheek. Callie turned her gaze to Arizona for a moment before averting her eyes and covering her head with her hands saying, "I'm so sorry. So sorry."
"Hey, what do you have to be sorry for?" Arizona asked gently scooting closer to Callie trying to pull her hands away from her face so she could meet her eyes.
Callie kept her eyes down as she sniffled and said, "Well, let me see. I showed up to the hospital a mess, cornered you into getting drinks with me, only to have Owen show up before we could even have some fun, and then dragged you back here to help clean up my mess."
"That's a lot of dragging on your end, Calliope," Arizona joked lightly.
Callie chuckled lightly before she shook her head and finally met Arizona's gaze. It was then she realized her hand was still in the vice grip of Arizona's. "I'm sorry," she tried once more.
"Stop apologizing," Arizona said quietly, but with sincerity. She wiped a strand of Callie's hair behind her ear and sighed before she continued. She didn't want to say something too personal, but Callie needed it right now. "Look, as far as Owen goes, that's not your fault. You couldn't have foreseen his dicketry."
Callie laughed. "Dicketry? You just made up that word."
"Yes, yes I did," Arizona scoffed, "Don't make fun while I'm trying to cheer you up."
Callie smiled gently and squeezed the hand still in hers, "Sorry. Continue, please."
"So, yeah, not your fault. As for coming back here with you, I think it was my duty as a doctor and a fellow citizen to make sure nobody got hurt tonight. Simple common sense."
Callie chuckled again but let her continue.
"And getting drinks…I already told you that I wanted to. If I couldn't or didn't want to, don't you think I would've said no? And I thought we were already having fun! As far as you being a mess…" She trailed off and let out another breath before continuing, "You are everything but. If the hospital wasn't one big gossip pool, nobody would ever know the shit you go through at home. Even if they did, you handle everything with such grace and maturity, it's admirable. It's strong; it's brave; it's motherly; it's honorable; it's beautiful, as are you. So no, you don't get to apologize for being a 'mess,' because you, my dear, are everything but."
Callie smiled and felt tears welling up in her eyes for an entirely different reason. She looked down bashfully before looking back up and whispering, "Thank you…" with all she had. Because she didn't know what else to say, for she was at a loss of words.
Arizona let out a one dimpled smile and squeezed Callie's hand before releasing and sitting back in her seat. Callie drove Arizona back to the hospital to get her car.
Callie put the car in park and turned to face Arizona. "Are you sure you're okay to drive?"
"Yes, Calliope," Arizona said with a little eye roll.
"Just making sure" Callie put her arms up in defense.
"I know. I appreciate it," Arizona grinned.
"Yeah, well, again, I'm really s—"
"Don't you dare," Arizona said pointedly.
"Okay, fine," Callie chuckled, "Can I at least thank you again for all your help tonight? Today has been…quite eventful. And I really appreciate you being there for it, even though you didn't have to."
"Yeah, but I wanted to," Arizona said as she leaned in and placed a gentle kiss on Callie's cheek. She wasn't sure what came over her, but it felt natural. "Besides," she whispered in her ear, "I need a little adventure in my life."
Callie shivered slightly as she felt Arizona pull away. Arizona sat back and searched for a pen out of her bag. She found it and grabbed Callie's arm.
"Uh…what are you doing?" Callie asked slightly shaken from the proximity of Arizona from a moment before.
"I'm writing my number down," Arizona said not looking up, "So that if anything ever happens like this again, you can reach me. And you won't have to run through the rain into the hospital."
Callie laughed and Arizona put the cap back on the pen.
"Seriously though, anything at all, don't hesitate to call me. I'll be there." She turned to leave the car as Callie sat lightly rubbing the arm which Arizona wrote on. She felt tingly. Before Arizona could get in her car, Callie rolled down her window and called, "Arizona!"
Arizona turned, her small curls bouncing slightly.
Callie grinned and said, "You're pretty awesome, you know that?"
Arizona feigned thought then looked back at Callie saying, "Maybe just a little bit." With that she sent Callie a wink and closed the door behind her.
Once she got inside her car she watched Callie's car leave and sighed. What the hell am I doing? This is dangerous territory. But she couldn't deny everything she just told Callie wasn't true. It all was. And that alone scared her more than anything.