Sorry for the delay in updating. I recently lost my Grandmother, so I've been in no mood for writing.
Thanks for all of your recent reviews. This is a longer chapter than usual.
I do not own anything. All characters/storylines belong to Shonda. I'm simply 'borrowing' them.
Chapter Eighteen
"Karev, are you sure you're going to be okay?" Arizona questioned as she placed her tablet on the desk at the nurse's station.
"I'll be fine, Boss. Do you not trust me?"
"Of course I trust you. I just want to be sure that you are okay with me going away for a little while." The blonde smiled.
"I'll be fine. Do your thing with Torres. After what she told me, I'm sure she could use the break."
"Yeah, I'm not sure how much of a break she will get with my parents being around, but I guess a break is a break."
"I'm sure they will love her. If you screw it up, though, I'll gladly take her." Alex threw his boss a wink. "You know, take her off your-"
"I swear if one more word comes out of your mouth, it will be the last words you ever speak!" Arizona scolded the younger guy. "Watch it, Karev."
"Jeez, I'm just playing, Robbins." He threw his hands up. "You do know that she's bi, right?"
"I don't care what she is. She is mine right now, and that is all that matters." The blonde stated as she rolled her eyes. "How bi is she?"
"Um, I don't know." He shrugged. "She played around with one of the surgeon's that used to be here, but it wasn't serious. More like friends with benefits."
"Yeah?" Blue eyes narrowed.
"Yeah, Mark," Alex stated as he continued to tap at his tablet. "They were more like best friends, though, I swear."
"Hmm, I don't ever recall sleeping with my best friend."
"Robbins, it's pretty obvious that she is so into you it's unreal. Why are you bothered?"
"What?" Arizona let out a throaty laugh. "I'm not bothered. She's just never mentioned it."
"Well, I can assure you, Torres is really into you. It's sickening." Karev laughed. "Makes me cringe."
"Jeez, thanks." Arizona scoffed as she left the nurses station on the Peds floor.
Strolling down the corridor, Arizona found herself at the elevator that would take her down to the attendings lounge. Hitting the call button, she stepped inside and leant back against the wall. She had never imagined that her girlfriend would be someone who was also into guys, and although it didn't matter, she wasn't sure why Callie hadn't told her. They'd always maintained that they had no secrets, and after getting her brother and his death out into the open, she felt lighter and believed that they hadn't held anything back.
Shrugging off the worries that had begun to settle in her mind, she glanced up to find she had reached her desired floor. Tonight she would go home to her girlfriend, and they would finish their preparations for their road trip in two days. Yes, she was excited at the prospect of Callie meeting her parents, but she was also wary. She knew exactly how her mother could be, and no matter how many times she begged her to not ask so many questions, she knew that the older woman wouldn't be able to help herself. It was inevitable. Barbara Robbins would grill her girlfriend and inform the brunette of her daughter's past.
Changing into her street clothes, the blonde grabbed her purse and slung it over her shoulder. Leaving the lounge, she quickened her pace and soon found herself outside the main entrance of the hospital. Furrowing her brow, she focused her eyes on the woman a few feet away from her with her hands stuffed in her pockets, shifting her weight from left to right. "Calliope?"
"Hey!"
"Um, is everything okay?" Arizona questioned her girlfriend. She was thrilled to see her, but this hadn't been the plan when she had spoken to Callie at lunch time.
"Yeah. Why wouldn't it be?" Callie laughed.
"Well, I just didn't expect you to be stood outside the hospital. It's freezing." The blonde pulled her jacket tighter around her and leant in for a chaste kiss. "You should be at home."
"I know. I figured I'd walk down and meet you. It's dark and cold, and I didn't want you to walk home alone."
"That's sweet." Arizona blushed. "You are sweet."
"I know." The brunette shrugged. "I missed you today. I finished packing a little while ago and then I got bored."
"You could have taken a hot bath, or relaxed." The blonde stated as she linked their fingers together and began walking up the street.
"Yeah but then I would still have the issue of my girlfriend walking home alone on a cold and dark evening."
Releasing her grip on a tanned hand, Arizona slipped it around the brunette's waist and held her girlfriend closer. "God I love you so much."
Gaining a huge smile from the other woman, Arizona lay her head against Callie's shoulder and sighed. "So much."
"I love you too." Callie placed a kiss on top of cool blonde curls.
The rest of their walk home was spent in silence. Both women just being in the moment and enjoying each other's company. This was something Callie had never imagined, and she found herself falling more and more in love with Arizona Robbins every day. It was perfect, and it was different. Different in so many ways. Being with Suzanne had always felt forced, and although she knew that she should have left her ex a long time before she did, she knew that it was a part of her road to finding Arizona. She knew that had she not been with Suzanne, she may never have met Arizona. Sure, they'd both be working at the hospital, but that didn't mean they would have dated. Arizona had saved her when she was at her most vulnerable, and although it had crossed her mind that the blonde was only with her because of sympathy, that thought had quickly been erased from her mind when they had gotten to know each other a little better. Arizona was anything but just sympathetic towards Callie, and she appreciated the fact that the blonde didn't hold back in their relationship, or in the bedroom.
Waking to find piercing blue eyes staring back at her, Callie smiled. Morning Arizona was the cutest Arizona, and she felt like the luckiest woman in the world. No matter what she had been through, how much she had been degraded and hurt, none of it mattered anymore. Arizona had given her a reason to be happy, and that was good enough for the brunette right now. What the future held? Neither of them knew. What they did know, though, was that their present wasn't far from perfect.
"Good morning." Callie grinned as she stretched out her tired body.
"Mm, you say that, but is it? Is it really?" Blue eyes narrowed.
"Um, why wouldn't it be?" The brunette furrowed her brow.
"Have you forgotten that you are meeting my parents this evening?" Arizona propped her head up on her hand; elbow bent and dug into the mattress beneath her.
"No, I haven't forgotten." Callie smiled. "Will you just relax?"
"I can't." Blonde curls shook. "My mother makes me uneasy."
"Why? If she is anything like her daughter, I'm sure I will love her." Callie pressed a kiss to pink lips. "We should get ready." Removing herself from their warm king-size bed, Callie moved around to Arizona's side and pulled the cover from her girlfriend's naked body. "Up!"
"Jeez, it's freezing!" Arizona winced as she shot up from the bed. Throwing the brunette a wink, Arizona grinned. "Shower?"
"Yes, we do need to shower." Callie gave a nod in agreement. "Separately."
Feigning shock, Arizona pouted. "I'm offended that you do not want me, or my body in the shower with you." Picking up the cover from the floor, she wrapped it around her body and moved to step past her girlfriend.
Reaching out and gripping a pale wrist, Callie spun the blonde around and pulled her in against her body. "I always want your body, Arizona, but if we step into that room together right now, we will never leave this apartment today."
Shrugging and dropping her gaze, Arizona sighed. "That was the plan all along."
Curling her fingers underneath the blondes chin, Callie dipped her head until their gaze met. "Are you saying that you were about to trick me into a day filled with hot hot sex so that you could avoid your parents?"
Giving a slight nod, Arizona blushed. "Yes."
Pressing a kiss to the other woman's lips, Callie smiled. "While I find that extremely hot, and devastatingly tempting, we really cannot do that."
"We can do whatever we want, Calliope," Arizona stated as she placed light kisses along the taller woman's jawline. The cover slipping from her naked body. Reaching her earlobe, she gently bit down. "Anything at all."
Throwing back her head as she felt Arizona's nipples harden against her own, Callie let out a low moan. "I want you so much, but we can't."
Slipping her hand beneath the waistband of Callie's boy shorts, the blondes fingertips were instantly met with her girlfriend's arousal. "Oh, I think your body is saying something else, baby.
"Arizo-" Cut off by the blonde's lips, Callie was struggling to control the situation. Why are you even resisting? You have the hottest woman in the world with her hand exactly where you want it! Pulling back for a little air, Callie closed her eyes and took a few breaths. Placing her forehead against her girlfriend's, the brunette signed. "Arizona."
"I'm sorry." Arizona gave a sad smile and brought her hand up to a bronzed cheek. "I'll stop." Removing her hand from between her girlfriend's legs, she pulled back and bent to collect the cover that had fallen to the floor. "You go take a shower, and I'll put some coffee on."
Watching her girlfriend step away from her, Callie instantly regretted stopping what was quickly starting. What are you doing? This is it until you get home from her parents. Stopping her girlfriend at the door, Callie pushed her back against the wall and pressed her body against her. "Don't ever be sorry."
"But you-" Cut off, Arizona moaned into their kiss. It was heated, and it was everything she hadn't expected when she removed herself from her girlfriend only moments before.
Running her tongue up the soft neck of her girlfriend, Callie husked "I always want you. Every second of the day." Her hand slipping inside of the material covering Arizona's body, and roaming along a toned stomach, she dipped it lower and ghosted her fingertips up and down a pale thigh. "Drop the cover, baby."
Instantly unclenching the fist that held the pristine white sheet around her, Arizona gasped as the brunette's hand slipped between her thighs. Hips bucking into the unexpected but more than welcome intrusion, the blonde gasped and moaned at the sensation Callie was creating. "God, Callie."
Smiling and returning her lips to the blondes, Callie applied a little more pressure as she drew circles over her girlfriend's swollen clit. Teasing her entrance, Callie watched on in delight as Arizona threw her head back and hissed "Yes."
Desperate to ride the hand that was doing all of the right things to her body, Arizona wrapped her leg around a strong, tanned waist and forced her centre forward. "Please, Callie."
"Please, what?" The brunette raised an eyebrow.
"Please, take me." Arizona moaned as she felt her girlfriend slip a digit partially inside her. Gasping as Callie circled a hardened nipple with her tongue, Arizona desperately needed the brunette deep and hard. "Please."
"You know it's pretty hot when you beg," Callie smirked. "How do you want it?"
"Fuck! You are hot, period." Arizona rolled her eyes as a second finger partially slipped inside. "I want it hard." Forcing her hips forward once again, she let out a guttural moan as Callie slipped unexpectedly deeper. "Shit!"
"Feel good?" The brunette questioned. She knew it felt good. The ability to know exactly what her girlfriend wanted and liked, gave her the upper hand. She knew what spots to hit, where to suck, when to apply more pressure or less, and she knew exactly what got the blonde off. Their connection during sex was the most intense connection she had ever felt with another person, and right now, she wanted nothing more than to give Arizona exactly what she wanted.
"Mm, like you wouldn't believe." Arizona sunk down on the fingers deep inside of her. "More."
Attaching her lips to the blonde's neck, Callie entered a third finger and thrust deep. Walls immediately clenching around her fingers, she felt her own arousal pool. "Fuck, you are tight."
"Mm, just for you." The blonde groaned as she wrapped her arms tighter around Callie's neck. Knowing her girlfriend had just hit the exact spot she wanted her to, Arizona gasped and rocked against the strong fingers thrusting deeper and harder by the second. "Fuck, C-Cal. You a-are amazing. Oh god!"
Placing her left-hand flat against the wall to the left of Arizona's head, Callie increased the speed and strength of her thrusts. Knowing that her girlfriend was about to topple over the edge, she placed her thumb against the swollen and throbbing bundle of nerves so desperate for release and watched as Arizona screamed her name in delight.
"You are so freaking hot, Arizona Robbins." Callie husked as she placed light kisses on the blonde's chest. Slowing her hand, she admired her girlfriend while she rode out her orgasm. "So hot."
Dropping her leg from around Callie's waist, Arizona ran a hand through her hair and caught her breath. Groaning as the other woman slowly removed her fingers, Arizona smiled and placed her head on Callie's shoulder. "Mm, how about that shower now?"
Licking her fingers clean, Callie smiled. "I guess. We certainly need to clean you up."
Backing out of her parking space, Arizona mentally checked off her list in her head and gave a nod when she was satisfied that they had everything they needed. It had been a while since she had seen her mother, and although she loved her dearly, she wasn't sure bringing her girlfriend home for three days was the best idea she'd had all year. Sure, she wanted her parents to know her girlfriend, but she wasn't positive that Callie was ready to be introduced to Barbara Robbins. The woman could certainly be a handful.
She had warned the brunette of her mother's behaviour, and she knew that Callie wasn't taking it seriously. Maybe I should just let her figure this one out herself. Laughing to herself, she internally chastised herself when she noticed that Callie was looking at her funny. "Um, you okay?"
"Yeah." Callie furrowed her brow. "Um, are you?"
"Sure. Why wouldn't I be?" Arizona tightened her grip on the wheel in front of her.
"You are being creepy."
"Am not." The blonde pouted.
"Laughing at your own thoughts?" A defined eyebrow rose. "I'd say that was a little creepy. Maybe even a little odd."
"Oh, sorry." Pale shoulders shrugged. "I was just thinking about my mom. You know, how she is going to hit you with a tonne of questions."
"So? I expect a lot of questions. I'm supposed to love and look after her daughter."
"You are too cute sometimes, Calliope." Blue eyes softened. "I just want you to be prepared for my mother. She can be, uh, intense?"
"Intense is good." Callie gave a small smile and a slight nod. "Means she cares about who her daughter is dating. I can cope with intense. I have nothing to hide."
"I know you have nothing to hide." Blue eyes softened. "I just don't want my mother to put you off dating me."
"Um, that's never going to happen." Callie scoffed.
"It's not?"
"Nope! No way!" Brown curls shook. "Nothing could stop me from loving you, Arizona."
Settling back in her seat, Arizona quickly glanced at her girlfriend before setting her baby blues back on the road in front of them. "Do I make you happy, Calliope?"
"That's a joke right? A trick question?" Brown eyes narrowed.
"No, it's a serious question. Do I make you happy?" Arizona questioned.
"You make me the happiest I've ever been. You cannot even imagine how happy you make me."
"Okay. That's good." Arizona gave a nod. "That's good, right?"
"Of course it's good. Unless it's not what you want?"
"What? No! It's everything I want." The blonde smiled. "I just, I worry sometimes."
"About?"
"About us." Arizona huffed. "I've fallen for you. Hard. I can't bare the thought of losing you one day."
"But you won't lose me, baby." Callie smiled. "I've fallen pretty hard for you too. That, I never imagined."
"I'm sorry. I'm just feeling a little insecure right now." Pale shoulders shrugged. Glancing at her girlfriend in the passenger seat, Arizona sighed. "I, um, I promised myself I'd never fall in love again, you know?"
"You did? When?"
"When I left her. I just couldn't cope with the pain and the heartbreak." Blonde curls shook. "I didn't want ever to open myself up to another woman again. It hurt too much even to think about it."
"So, what changed?" A defined dark eyebrow raised.
"You. You changed all of the doubts and fears I had. I knew from the minute I saw you that I could spend my entire life with you."
"You did?" Callie sat back in her seat and took in her surroundings. Never in her life had she felt such peace. She knew things were far from perfect, but right now, it was as good as it could get, and she would take every ounce of happiness thrown her way.
"I did." The blonde gave a slight nod. "I never thought I would be somebody's everything ever again. But I am, and I love it. I love waking up with your body against mine. I love knowing that when I've been on a night shift, I will come home to you keeping our bed warm. I love everything about us."
Sniffling, Callie smiled and wiped away a stray tear that had fallen and gathered on her jawline.
"I just never imagined that this would be where I was at when I joined the staff at the hospital. I never imagined I would have such a beautiful woman sat beside me while I drove to my parents home. I'm a little overwhelmed. I'm sorry."
Placing her hand down on the console between them, Callie gripped the pale hand of her girlfriend tightly in her own. "Don't ever apologise for feeling that way. Never."
"Okay. I just need you to know that I love you. Every morning I wake up with you, I fall more in love. When you aren't there, I'm desperate to see you. When we are at work, I'm hoping for a page from you, and when we are at Joe's with friends, I want to get you into our bed so I can feel you against me. I just, I want, and I need you to know that I love you more than anything. You are beautiful, and you are amazing. I cannot live without you, Calliope."
"I love you, too." The brunette ran her thumb across pale knuckles. "And I cannot live without you."
Three hours into their drive, the couple had decided to stop off at a diner. It had been a pleasant journey so far, and Arizona was beginning to feel a little less nervous about introducing her girlfriend to her parents. Sure, Barbara would have a million questions for the brunette sat across from Arizona right now, but Callie was strong, and she knew she could hold her own.
"You're still thinking."
"Huh?" Arizona lifted her gaze from the coffee she had been nursing for almost ten minutes.
"You're still thinking about the horror I'm about to face." Callie laughed. "Please stop worrying."
"Sorry, it will be fine, right?"
"It will." The brunette agreed. "So, this ex of yours?"
"What about her?" Blue eyes narrowed.
"Does she have a name? Is she from your hometown?"
"Her name is Natalie. I've never really had a hometown. We travelled a lot while I was growing up, but yeah, she is from my current hometown." The blonde stated as she sipped on her coffee. "Why?"
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry." Dark curls shook. "I, we've just never spoken about it."
"There's not much to say really." Arizona shrugged. "She broke my heart and stole my best friend."
"I'm sorry." Callie placed her hand over her girlfriend's.
"Don't be. It is what it is."
"But you must have loved her. You were together for what? Eight years?" The brunette decided to poke a little more.
"I did love her. I loved her so freaking much." The blonde scoffed as she thought about her longest and most serious relationship. "I haven't thought about her since I've been in Seattle."
"Really? Never?" Callie frowned.
"No, incase you forgot, I've been a little preoccupied." Dimples appeared as Arizona gave her girlfriend a knowing look.
"Oh, right." Callie laughed. "So what does she do?"
"She's a teacher. A pretty good one." Arizona stated. "She always took her job very seriously. That was the one thing I enjoyed towards the end."
"What's that?"
"I would be guaranteed evenings with her during the week. She would be home grading, so I knew that I would be able to spend time with her."
"That's nice." The brunette smiled. She knew how much Arizona loved to cuddle of an evening, and it was something that Callie had quickly fallen in love with having been denied it in her past relationship. "How did you know?"
"What? How did I know that she was fucking someone else?" Blue eyes glistened. "She stopped coming home at night. She would say she was meeting colleagues. It got later and later as the weeks went on."
"So you just knew from that?"
"No, I had an idea that something wasn't right. I just thought we were in a slump. She would come home and climb straight into bed. Turn her back on me. When I'd wake, she would already be up and ready for work. She just, well, I guess she just found someone, or something better." Arizona smiled. "It got to the point where I was so bored sitting at home of an evening; I'd call around my friends and see if they wanted to head out to a movie. Sometimes we did, sometimes I'd just stay home."
"Then?" Callie knew she was potentially asking too much, but Arizona had never opened up like this, so she wasn't about to stop her in her tracks.
"I decided to drive over to Julie's one night. She had been my best friend for fifteen years. I even had my own key to her place. We were like sisters. She had been there for me when Tim died, and we did everything together."
Closing her eyes as she imagined what was coming next, Callie's nostrils flared in anger. She hated cheaters. She didn't have any time for those kind of people.
"I let myself in and grabbed a beer from Julie's refrigerator. It was what I always done. The lights were on so I figured she was showering or changing after work." Arizona snorted. "There I was, sat with my feet up on the coffee table just minding my own business."
Tightening her grip on the pale hand beneath her own, Callie gave the blonde a sad smile. The hurt in her eyes was too much to take. She didn't like seeing her girlfriend like this, and at that moment, she mentally told herself that she would never be the cause of such a sight.
"I heard laughing first; then I heard a crash of some sort. Then I wondered if she had a guy upstairs. I decided I would hang for another five minutes before slipping out. I wish I'd have left when I first heard the laughter. That way I wouldn't have left her living room to find my girlfriend deep inside my best friend. Literally."
"Oh, Arizona." Callie was shocked. She had never been the victim of adultery. She had never wondered if her other half was cheating on her.
"You know the worst thing? It was how they laughed when they found me standing in the hallway. They just sat there laughing. Giggling like a pair of teenagers."
"I'm so sorry that you went through that." Callie slipped out of her side of the booth and shuffled in beside her girlfriend. "I wish you hadn't experienced that."
"Yeah, I was sorry too when it happened. I was devastated."
"How the hell did you get over it?" Brown eyes stared intently.
"You know the day I got over it? It was the day you walked into the ER and shook my hand. I didn't know you; I didn't even know your name. But I felt it. I felt something, and that evening when I met you at Joe's, I hoped to ask you out to dinner. Something about you told me that I should get to know you."
"And I brushed you off." Callie sighed. "I'm such an idiot sometimes."
"No, you had a fiancé. That was why I walked away. I had no intentions of becoming what my ex-best friend and my ex-girlfriend had become. I wanted to get to know you so much, but I wouldn't be labelled a cheater. I'd just had my heart broken that exact way, so I walked away from you, and yeah, I went home a little upset, but that was life."
"I'm so happy that you were the one I called that day, you know." The brunette placed her hand on her girlfriend's cheek. "That night when she was beating me for having drinks with you, all I thought about what you. I tried to focus on your face because it was kind, and it was safe. I tried to imagine that I wasn't in my apartment. I had to focus on something, and the only thing I could focus on was you. You have saved me more that once."
"I'll always protect you, Calliope. I just hate that she did that to you because of me."
"She didn't do it because of you. She did it because she was convinced that I was unfaithful. If it hadn't have been you she had found me with, she still would have found an excuse. She always did."
"I know this sounds wrong, and it goes against what I believe, but I wish I'd have taken you back to my apartment that night. That first night in Joe's when you told me you were taken, I wish I'd have thrown caution to the wind and taken you back with me. Maybe then you wouldn't have had to endure what you did any longer. Maybe I could have convinced you to see that there was more to life than the relentless beatings. That I could show you, true love."
"I wish you had have. I'm not a cheater, but the attention you had shown me on that first day was enough to probably get me into your bed that night. I know it sounds wrong and terrible, but I was a mess. Emotionally and physically. I'd have taken anything that resembled a little affection."
"You would?" Blue eyes narrowed. "You'd have climbed into bed with me that first night?"
"Probably. I don't know. I do know that I would have kissed you, though." Callie sighed. "I'm not painting myself in a very good light right now, am I?"
Laughing, Arizona pressed a kiss to Callie's lips. "I know who you are, and what you are, and I trust you. I will never give you a reason to need to find love and affection elsewhere, so I'm not worried."
"I'd never do that to you, and I know you know that." Callie gave a nod in agreement. "I hate what she did to you, but in a way, I'm happy that she let you go. I wouldn't be here with you right now if she hadn't."
"Yeah, kind of a blessing, huh?" Arizona smiled.
"Well, I think so. Do you?" Callie raised an eyebrow.
"I do. I did love her; I won't deny that. I wouldn't have spent eight years with her if I didn't. But, being with you for this past year has meant more to me than the eight I shared with her. She was nice, and it was fun, but you are something else, Calliope. You are it for me."
Closing her eyes as she took in her girlfriend's words, Callie let a small smile creep onto her face. "That is all I need to know. Thank you for opening up to me."
"Thank you for listening. I've never told anyone that story. Not even my mother." Arizona straightened herself out and threw some cash down on their table. "I guess we should head back out on the road."
"Yeah, I guess we should. You know you don't ever have to keep anything from me, don't you?"
"I do know that. It's just been a year of mixed emotions, and when we met, you didn't need my problems on top of your own. I can be strong enough for the both of us. I can do that."
"Well now it is out in the open, we can be strong together. For each other."
Thanks for reading, guys. I'm not sure how often the updates will come, as this one has taken me three weeks to write. I do hope to get them out a little quicker now that I've finally updated. Thanks again for your patience and I hope not to leave you all hanging for so long again.