Part 1

The sun hung high up in the Alabama sky as a woman with a mop of blonde hair walked down the road. Dressed in a man's dress shirt - white when it was new but after a year or more of wear it had faded to a soft cream color - with a purple tie undone slightly around her neck, a pair of trousers with suspenders hung over her shoulders, and polished men's shoes.

She was walking from the encampment that some of the locals set up down by the river to her parent's home. One of the men, Old Tom, had managed to get her chocolate straight from Switzerland due to his many connections. It was a gift for her brother to give his bride to be. Though why he would get all the credit when she had to track down Old Tom and get him to agree to help and then go pick it up today is beyond her.

As she walked down the old dirt road, she watched as the large fields slowly turned into smaller ones. Roads came more and more frequently and soon there were houses coming closer and closer.

On the outskirts of the bustling town, Whistle Stop, Alabama was the Robbins family farm. A massive five bedroom home that had been added to and modified since it was built a hundred or so years ago, sat with large maple trees on either side. There were barns out back and fields past that.

"Morning, Arizona," Alex Karev said from the porch where Mama Robbins had him peeling potatoes for the wedding feast. He was one of the local kids taken in by the Robbins. His momma died young, and his daddy ran off with some young thing just out of school.

"Morning, Alex. What did you do to get put on potato duty?" Arizona grabbed an apple from a bowl that Momma Robbins always kept full for anyone hungry.

"I told Momma I didn't want to shine my shoes again," Alex grumbled as he started peeling another potato.

Arizona ruffled his hair as she laughed and headed inside the house with the chocolate bar hanging out of her shirt pocket. She was greeted with the sight of people busy working on the house. Meredith and Lexie Grey were cooking in the kitchen. They were taken in when their mother died trying to give their father a son. He drank himself to death over it. Cristina Yang was in the living room putting chairs out. The girl had grown up here when her parents dropped her off one day and just never came back. She could hear April, an orphan that was left at the church that the Robbins also took in, helping Teddy get dressed.

It was unusual for the bride and the groom to get ready at the same house, but this had been their home so no one paid much mind to tradition. Teddy had come here in the middle of her teens after her father was killed in the Great War and her mother died from a broken heart.

"Arizona!" Momma Robbins called as soon as she laid eyes on Arizona. "Go upstairs and help Timothy with his tie." She pointed up the staircase.

"Yes, Momma," Arizona called back. She took another bite of her apple before climbing the stairs.

Arizona knocked on Tim's bedroom door, which doubled as the attic. As the oldest, he was the only one of them that got his own room. Alex usually slept in the barn loft and all the girls paired off.

"Momma, I swear I got it," Tim said before pulling the door open.

"I'm not Momma, Timmy," Arizona said with a dimpled grin. "Get up the stairs and let me fix your tie before Teddy sees you and decides to marry old Doc Shepherd's boy Derek instead."

Tim rolled his eyes as he turned and headed back up the small staircase. The room wasn't overly large and half of it was taken up by things needing to be stored. But he had a nice view out the back window and his own bed and dresser. Even a chair by the window and an oil lamp. His pride and joy was their grandfather's old full size mirror on a wood stand the old man carved himself. Tim restored it after he was given it once the old man passed.

"I hate putting this suit on," Tim grumbled as he looked at himself. He still fit and filled the suit well but where his left arm should be there was an empty sleeve. He lost his left arm all the way to the shoulder during his time in the Army. He flat out refused to wear his uniform today even though their father, the Colonel, would be dressed in his.

"You look handsome as you ever did, arm or no arm," Arizona said. She turned him around to face her before she started undoing the sloppy attempt at a knot. "Teddy's hardly going to be able to stand it when she sees you."

Tim laughed as he let his younger sister undo his tie and fix it up for him. "Anyone you got your eye on, baby sister?"

Arizona's cheeks turned red at the implication. "No young men," she muttered out as she worked on Tim's tie without looking him in the eye.

"Arizona, everyone from here to Georgia and back knows you will never bring a young man home to Momma and the Colonel," Tim said with a chuckle. "You spend some of your time down by the river at the Wagon Wheel club with those girls who do things young men and some young women like. It's not hard to put two and two together. Just keep it quiet and no one will pay you no mind about it."

"They're nice to visit with," Arizona said with her cheeks going even more red.

"I'm sure they are," Tim laughed deeply at her. "Just don't get nothing you have to go see Doc for, you hear me?"

Arizona slugged him in his right shoulder before stepping back. "There, you look good enough for a classy girl like Teddy to marry," she announced proudly.

Tim grabbed the chocolate bar out of her pocket and set it on the bed. He and Teddy had been given a plot of land by the Colonel which a house was built on. It was newer than most of the other houses around with electricity in the whole first floor. But with the reception being here they would be staying their first night here before leaving in the morning for their honeymoon about an hour away at a cabin one of Tim's Army buddies owned.

"You really about to get married?" Arizona asked as it started to hit her that her brother wouldn't be living here when he got back from his honeymoon.

"I love her a whole lot," Tim said with a nod. "She makes me feel like losing my arm is just a small part of who I am. She stands on my left so when people look over they just see a man standing there. And she's real pretty," he added with a dimpled grin.

Arizona stepped forward and wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing her cheek against his freshly shaved one. "I am going to come up the road and pester you every day, Timothy Daniel Robbins. I am. And I'll eat the last piece of pie and teach your kids to cuss and how to pick locks too."

"I know you will," Tim whispered as he wrapped his right arm around her. "And Teddy will shake her head and hide a piece of pie away for me. And I'll make the kids do farm work to save themselves from the belt if they go cussing around Momma or the Colonel. You aren't losing a brother today, Arizona, you're getting a sister."

"I already had Teddy as a sister. How about a puppy?" Arizona asked as she pulled back to show off a dimpled grin of her own.

"We'll see," Tim laughed and shook his head.

Before the siblings could make any more trouble, there was a knock on the door and April poked her head into the stairwell before climbing a few of the steps.

"Momma has Teddy all ready," April said with an excited look in her eyes and a smile wide enough to nearly split her face. "She said to send you two off to the church."

"Ready to get hitched?" Arizona asked as she held Tim's jacket up so he could slip his arm inside and she could fix it on the left side.

"Ready as ever," Tim patted her hand the back before they headed towards the door.

/

The Whistle Stop Methodist church was the largest building between Birmingham and Atlanta. Everyone for miles around had a member of the family buried in their cemetery, married in the church or who slept in a pew when times were tough.

As Arizona and Tim all jumped out of the Dodge Series 116, something the Colonel managed to get delivered just in time for the wedding. Alex turned the car around and went back to the homestead to pick up the next group that needed to be brought down to the church.

There was a multitude of people all milling around outside in the warm May sunlight. People they went to school with, people from the church, friends of their parents, and Tim's Army buddies all paired off in smaller groups.

"All these people are here for you, Timmy," Arizona teased as they walked from where Alex dropped them off to the church.

"What can I say?" Tim chuckled. "I am a popular guy."

Arizona looked away from Tim when she heard a laughter that sounded like music. Her feet came to an abrupt stop as her eyes fell on the most beautiful woman she had ever seen. Dark hair pulled back into a braid, red lips curved into a breathtaking smile, the most beautiful figure she had seen in her life. Her mouth hung open as the sunlight seemed to shine down on this ethereal being.

"Who's that?" Arizona asked with a dreamy look on her face.

"Callie Torres. She's a friend of Teddy's," Tim said from behind Arizona. He couldn't quite see how awestruck her face was. "She's staying at my and Teddy's place this summer to teach bible study to the local kids."

"Awesome," Arizona murmured as she watched Callie Torres talking to someone with that breathtaking smile on her face.

"See something you like?" Tim asked as he stepped around Arizona and saw her eyes as wide as dinner plates.

Arizona's mouth, hung wide open still, couldn't seem to form words properly. Before she could get her brain to tell her mouth to close, a horsefly flew in her mouth. It landed right on her tongue and gave a painful bite before her mind could be torn off of the woman in front of her to react.

"Jesus leapfrogging Christ," Arizona spat as she got the fly out of her mouth.

Tim howled in laughter as he looked on at Arizona trying to get the taste of fly out of her mouth after that. His little sister was usually much more subtle than she just was but he couldn't blame her for a little looking when it came to a beautiful woman.

"Quit it you," Arizona grumbled while smacking him in the belly. "Let's get in the church and talk to Old Reverend Weller before I find a fly to bite you on the end of the nose," she said before fixing her tie.

"You should go say hi to her," Tim said as they started walking toward the church.

"Later," Arizona said with a nervous tone.

When Arizona looked toward Callie again, she saw a pair of brown eyes looking back to her. She couldn't help but tip her head; her hand raising to an imaginary brim of an imaginary cap to tip in Callie's direction as she gave her best dimpled grin. She turned her head a second later but she swore she saw a hint of a blush on Callie's cheeks.

/

After the ceremony was over, everyone went back to the Robbins' farm for the reception. Arizona kept finding reasons to be near enough to Callie, but she couldn't find a reason to introduce herself.

When the desserts came out, she found her chance.

Momma Robbins was a well known baker who could whip up the very best treats anyone in several states could ask for. Part of the reason that half the guests to Tim and Teddy's wedding came was surely for the wedding treats she was sure to make.

One of her very best creations was a pineapple upside down cake. Arizona secured two pieces of the cake and headed off to a corner of the yard. Callie was talking to one of the local girls that scrambled away when Arizona gave her a slight narrowing of her eyes.

"I thought you looked like you might want a treat," Arizona said with a slightly nervous smile. She handed one of the plates to Callie before sitting down on the blanket laid out. There were blankets all over the yard for people to sit in their church clothes without getting them messed up. "I'm Arizona, the Robbins' girl."

"Callie Torres," she smiled while she poked a piece of the cake with the fork before taking a bite. She took a second bite on the heels of the first one. Her eyes lingered on the clothes that Arizona was wearing. She had never seen a woman dressed like this. "Your mother is a fine baker."

"She is," Arizona nodded before taking a large bite of her piece of cake. "Timmy told me you're staying with him and Teddy this summer," she added after swallowing her bite.

"She and I attended the Methodist Seminary for young women in Alpharetta a few years back," Callie said as she forked a bit more cake. "The church wanted to run a morning and afternoon group and Teddy didn't want to run them both."

"It'll be nice having someone new in town around," Arizona said with a dimpled grin. What she meant, of course, was it would be nice for her to have someone so lovely to look at every time she went to her brother's home. "If you ever want someone to show you around town, when I'm not doing odd jobs around town, I'd be happy to show you what there is to see."

"That would be very kind of you," Callie set her empty plate to the side.

"Are you saying all by yourself at the new house while Timmy and Teddy are away?" Arizona asked as she set her plate next to Callie's just so something of Callie's and something of hers would be touching.

"I am. I promised Teddy I would help get things unpacked while they are away for the week," Callie nodded as she smoothed her dress down as a little breeze passed them.

"If you want some company while they're gone, I'd be happy to come over," Arizona said with a shy grin. "Gonna be hard to cook for one and spend all your time unpacking for the happy couple."

"I could use someone to lift some of the heavier boxes," Callie said with a smile. "I was going to ask, I think his name is Alex?"

Arizona snorted. "I can outwork Alex on my worst day. I'll come over bright and early tomorrow morning and help you move things. Tim and Teddy are sure to sleep in tomorrow."

"It's a long day for them," Callie agreed.

Arizona wanted to make a crude comment, but she thought Callie was too much of a lady to take it. She usually liked to say crude things around ladies to watch them clutch their breasts in shock. But with Callie, she much rather see her smile.

"Arizona, there you are," Momma Robbins walked over. "I need you to bring another case of Coke up from the cellar."

"Yes, Momma," Arizona said as she looked up at her.

As Momma walked away again, Callie and Arizona looked at each other. There was a moment where the two just stared at each other before Arizona cleared her throat and looked away.

"I should go get the Coke before Momma has to ask me again. Never make Momma ask you twice," Arizona laughed nervously as she got up to her feet.

"Good to know." Callie looked up at Arizona with a shy smile. "I'll see you bright and early tomorrow if we don't talk again today."

"Yes, you will," Arizona said before all but running off. as she did it dawned on her just how much trouble that smile could get her in.

/ /

The sun was barely over the horizon when Arizona made her way from her parent's house down the dirt road to Tim and Teddy's new home. She had a mug of coffee that she took from the pot on the stove her mother had put on hours before for her father. The Colonel was up at four in the morning like clockwork.

Usually at this hour, she would have only been home for about an hour. If she slept in her own bed that night at all. She had a large tree that was perfect to climb down just outside of her bedroom window. She used it often to get out of the house and down to the ground. It wasn't that far of a walk down to the river to chat with the women who had turned some old shacks into a small camp of sorts.

Arizona saw a lamp lit in one of the bedrooms on the second floor and Callie's silhouette in the window. She stopped in her tracks and looked at her for a moment. She was glad no one was around as a whimper escaped her lips.

Before she could linger too long, she looked away and started walking again. She walked in through the back door and into the kitchen. She tried to focus on making coffee, thankfully the supplies were on the kitchen table.

"Good morning," Callie said when she came downstairs dressed for the day.

"Morning," Arizona said without looking at Callie, less she blush at the memory of what she just saw.

"None for me, thank you," Callie said when Arizona got a second mug out. "I usually drink tea in the morning and have coffee in the afternoon."

Arizona put some water on to boil for her as Callie dug around a box looking for her tin of tea. "Do you like honey with your tea? I know someone who has the most wonderful honey."

"I do," Callie smiled at the offer. "If you introduce us or take me to their farm, I'd be glad for it."

"Oh," Arizona blushed and ducked her head to hide it. "You can't just walk on to their farm. They are old woodsmen. I'll talk to them when I see them next and get you a jar of it," she said as she poured herself a cup of strong black coffee.

"I'd be very grateful if you could get me some then," Callie smiled as she reached out to squeeze Arizona's hand for a second.

"Of course," Arizona whispered as her eyes locked on Callie's for a second before she looked away and cleaned her throat. "I should start bringing the boxes in from the barn, you can unpack, and put away while I act as the mule?"

"That would be just fine," Callie agreed as she put a small ball of tea in her mug and poured water over her.

Arizona headed out to the barn and to start bringing in boxes. At least doing a little manual labor might take her mind off how her arm still tingled from where Callie touched her. When did she become so flustered at the sight of a pretty woman?

/

Callie watched a few hours later from the upstairs window as Arizona stopped in the middle of the yard and took out a handkerchief to wipe her brow. She was dressed in men's pants with her suspenders over the shoulders of her thin white cotton shirt. The dress shirt she had been wearing was hanging on a hook by the barn door.

She had never met a woman who dressed like a man before. She studied Arizona's profile as her head turned to the sun. She had her hair cut just below her jaw line, tied back with a scrap of a ribbon right now as she pocketed the handkerchief. Her jaw was strong, her breasts were clear under the thin cotton of the shirt and Callie's eyes lingered at the muscles of Arizona's arms when she picked up another box to move.

Callie shifted away from the window and went back to unpacking a box of books for the small study Tim and Teddy would share. Her mind stayed with Arizona and how she felt seeing her moving boxes. She felt a heat low in her belly that she didn't know how to place. She had felt it before around a few of the men she knew from back home but never around a woman.

After she finished sorting out the books and setting the desk in the room up with writing supplies, she decided to get herself a glass of lemonade. She headed downstairs to the kitchen and grabbed a pair of glasses. She prepared a full jug of the lemonade before she decided to fix herself and Arizona some lunch.

Mrs. Robbins had given her food from the wedding to bring back for the ice box. She fixed two plates of different smoked meats, salads and a bit of fruit. Once she had the table set, she went to the back porch.

"If you're hungry," Callie called out the back door, "I have lunch on the table."

Arizona looked up at Callie standing in the doorway. From the slight dust in the hair from the slight breeze and the way the light hit her, she looked like an angel of some sort. Arizona felt her heart clench slightly.

"Thank you kindly," Arizona smiled. She pulled her handkerchief out again and wiped her forehead and the back of her neck before heading inside.

Callie turned and went back in the house with Arizona coming in behind her. They both took seats at the table after they washed their hands to get the grim off.

Arizona bowed her head after Callie started to say grace, having already picked her fork out to eat before hastily setting it down.

"Thank you for making up lunch," Arizona said as she started digging into her plate.

"It was no trouble," Callie said, taking her lunch with a little more grace than Arizona.

"Momma said you told her that you cook," Arizona said after a few moments of both tucking in to her meal.

"I enjoy making food for people," Callie smiled. "I like to bake too, but I haven't been able to do much of that lately. Maybe this summer I can make a thing or two. Teddy and Tim's kitchen is one of the nicest I've been in."

"Teddy likes to cook, so Tim made sure she had a good kitchen," Arizona smiled with her dimples showing. "He is head over heels for her and has been for years. Momma said he acted just like Daddy did with her when they were young."

"Do you have a fella head over heels for you?" Callie asked. She wasn't quite sure why it mattered so much to her if Arizona did or not, but she already felt it deep inside that it did.

"No," Arizona said honestly. "No fellas."

Callie quirked an eyebrow but she didn't comment on the say Arizona said 'no fellas'. There was something about Arizona, the way she dressed, acted, the look in her eyes sometimes that was so unlike what she was used to that she felt off kilter because of it.

Arizona didn't ask if Callie had a fella waiting on her somewhere. There was no way a woman like Callie Torres didn't have some handsome man waiting on her and with that Arizona knew her heart would be taken away with her.

"I should get back to the boxes," Arizona said in a soft tone once her plate was cleaned off and her drinking glass was empty.

"I should clean up lunch and get back to unpacking them," Callie said before she stood and took the plates over to the sink.

Arizona stood at the table and lingered a moment before heading back out in the midday sun. She couldn't keep the smile off her face even if she felt like by the end of summer her heart would be broken one way or another.

/ /

The next morning when Callie came down there was a jar on the table with fresh honeycomb and raw honey inside. A note with a slightly messy scale told Callie it was from 'her favorite beekeeper'.

Callie made a cup of her favorite tea and added a spoonful of the honey to it. She took the mug out on the back porch and watched as the sun came over the horizon and the earth started to warm. She couldn't keep the smile off her face if she wanted.

/ /

Three days later it was time for Callie's first day of church school. Teddy would be starting when she and Tim came back, so for the first few days Callie would be doing both sessions. She was dressed and finishing her tea when she heard a cart and horse coming up the path in the back of the house.

"Morning," Arizona hopped down from the old cart. "It's near a mile to the church from here. I thought you might want a ride, so you don't have to walk it."

"Arizona," Callie said as she held her hand to her chest. She was touched at the gesture that she didn't expect. It was such a wonderfully kind thing to do.

And it let them spend time together.

"I can take the long way today since I know I'm early," Arizona said as she walked up to stand with Callie on the porch. "Show you the riverfront and the the center of town on our way."

"Thank you," Callie said as she held Arizona's hand for a moment. "Let me gather my things, and I'll be right out?"

"Take your time," Arizona said. When Callie ducked into the house she looked down at her hand with a goofy smile on her face.

/ /

"Miss Torres," Arizona grinned as she knocked on the doorframe to the room Callie had been holding classes in for the past several weeks. She had two bottles of Coke in her hand with a grin on her lips.

"Arizona," Callie looked away from the blackboard she was cleaning off at the end of her session. "Is one of those for me?"

"Yes ma'am," Arizona smiled. "I figured we could have a Coke before I take you back to Tim and Teddy's."

Callie gestured for Arizona to come inside. At least inside they were out of the hot summer sun. Over the last three weeks she had been teaching she found if she opened the windows on both sides she could have enough of a breeze not to cook herself and her students in here.

Arizona took one of the chairs and turned around to sit in it backwards after handing Callie one of the Cokes.

"Thank you for this," Callie said from the chair behind the desk.

"Of course," Arizona grinned before taking a long pull from her bottle.

Callie leaned back in her chair and gave a smile at Arizona. "When I came here, I knew I'd met people, but I never expected someone like you, Arizona Robbins."

"What makes me so different?" Arizona asked while playing with her suspenders strap.

"Everything," Callie said honestly. "Just everything."

Arizona ducked her head with a shy smile on her lips. "Do you like that I'm different?"

Callie took a sip out of her Coke bottle as she thought about her answer. "I really do, Arizona."

Arizona looked up through her eyelashes and grinned at her. "I like it too."

/ /

In the middle of June, Arizona was walking down the road early in the morning. She had been down at the river all night, spending her time with some of the women she knew there.

As a car came rolling up, she moved farther off the road to keep from being hit. What she didn't expect was the car to slow down.

"What are you doing out in the early hours of the morning, young lady?" Tim called from the driver's seat.

Arizona turned her head and grinned at her big brother. "I could ask you why you were out so early yourself, Timothy."

Tim stopped the car and slid over, opening the passenger door for Arizona to get in. He slid back as she fully opened the door and hopped in.

"Teddy ordered something new, and I have to go pick it up in Birmingham," Tim answered once Arizona was in. "I can swing back round Momma and Daddy's and let you off before I head out."

"Thanks," Arizona said as she leaned against the frame and let a yawn out.

"Seeing your friends down at the river again?" Tim asked as he turned the car around to drive Arizona home.

"A lady never kisses and tells," Arizona snorted.

"You ain't no lady, Arizona," Tim countered.

Arizona didn't say anything for a long moment as she watched the world go by from the passenger seat. She loved her brother, and he was one of the few people that never passed judgment on her.

"There are a couple women down there that will spend the night with whoever they please. No one judges nobody down there, it's why I like it," Arizona admitted as she bright her hand up to bite at her thumb nail.

"Spending time with people you like ain't no problem as long as you don't throw it in nobody's face," Tim said as he reached over to pat her leg. "I wouldn't tell Momma though."

"No," Arizona shook her head. "They treat me nice and if I buy them a beer or two let me bunk up."

Tim let out a chuckle. "I bet you like bunking up with a pretty girl."

Arizona's cheeks flushed as she nodded. "A girl's gotta eat," she mumbled.

That just made Tim laugh a little louder. "I bet you eat plenty down at the river."

Arizona shrugged but had a bit of a grin on her lips. "They like my shirts and suspenders. And when I'm with them I don't feel so unusual."

Tim drove about a mile before he spoke again. "You're sweet on Callie, aren't you?"

Arizona turned her head to the side and eyed her brother before looking back out the window. "Yes," she whispered barely louder than the sound of the wind whipping around them.

Tim reached over and took her hand in his. He didn't think it would end well for either of them, but he would do what he could for her.

"Will you drop me round your place?" Arizona asked another half mile on.

"Sure," Tim agreed. "Callie and Teddy should be having breakfast. I'm sure Teddy has a plate for you."

"She's a good friend," Arizona said as she held tight to her brother's hand.

Tim pulled into the drive of his own house and waved at Arizona before backing out and heading to Birmingham all over again.

Arizona headed to the back of the house and knocked on the screen door.

"Arizona," Callie greeted from the kitchen. "Teddy is upstairs reading. She wasn't feeling well this morning. Come in, and I'll fix you a plate."

Arizona walked in and sat down at the table. She had yesterday's clothes on and another woman's taste on her tongue, but it hit her sitting here with Callie fixing her a plate just how much she didn't want the girls down at the river anymore. But spending days with Callie and nights with them was as good as she might ever have.

"Here," Callie said as she put a plate of eggs and bacon down. She bent down and kissed her cheek before turning quickly around.

Arizona froze a moment as her hand lifted to her cheek and a goofy grin came to her lips. "Thanks."

/ /

On the fourth of July, Arizona showed up at Tim and Teddy's just before nightfall. Tim, Teddy, and Callie were all on the front porch waiting for the fireworks to go off over the river.

"Evening, Arizona," Teddy said from her spot curled up against Tim's side.

"Evening, Teddy," Arizona said with a wave. She had a blanket over her left arm.

"Come to watch the fireworks with us?" Tim asked.

Arizona fought from ducking her head. "I was thinking of taking Callie to the best spot in town to see them."

"Ah," Tim nodded.

"There is a best spot in town to see them?" Callie asked with an amused smile.

"Yup. And it's just a short walk. Wanna go?" Arizona asked hopefully.

Callie turned and looked at Tim and Teddy who both gave a nod they didn't mind her going. She nodded as she got to her feet and walked to the porch stairs and joined Arizona.

"Alright."

Arizona grinned with her dimples popping out. She walked Callie away from the house and down the road a short ways toward the river. They didn't speak as they walked but now and then the back of their hands brushed.

They made it to a section of the river with a large barn after about five minutes of walking.

"We're going to climb up to the roof and put the blanket down," Arizona said with a grin.

"We are?" Callie asked unsure.

"Yup," Arizona said while popping the P.

Callie slowly nodded. "I trust you."

Arizona was glad for the darkening light around them as she blushed at the declaration. She took Callie's hand without thinking too much and brought her inside the barn. They climbed the two different stairs inside the barn until Arizona pushed a large door to the roof open. It was pitched but it was slopped enough that the risk of falling off was somewhat lower.

Arizona spread the blanket out before helping Callie to sit and then taking a seat next to her.

"You can see forever up here," Callie said in wonder as she looked at the twinkling lights of the town.

"I come here sometimes to think. Old Man Mitchell doesn't care if I do as long as I don't mess the roof up," Arizona laid down with her arm under her head.

Callie laid down the same way and turned her head to look at Arizona's side profile. She felt her breath catch a little but tried to hide how her heart started to race.

"Thank you for bringing me here," Callie whispered as the darkening sky cast funny shadows around them.

"Thanks for letting me," Arizona turned her head. They two of them were side by side and nearly nose to nose.

Callie reached her hand out and stroked over the high point of Arizona's cheek with her thumb. She didn't know why touching Arizona made her feel like this but she couldn't help feeling butterflies in her belly when she did.

"I'm glad you came to Whistle Stop," Arizona whispered as her eyes fluttered shut.

"Me too," Callie whispered.

Before either of them could do something else there was a large boom as the first of the fireworks was sent up. They both rolled to their backs to watch as color lit up the dark summer sky.

/ /

As the summer ticked by, Arizona and Callie grew closer and closer and saw each other more and more. Be it Arizona showing up before Callie came down for breakfast to give her fresh honey or her showing up just after dinner to share an after drink with Callie before heading down by the river. The pair were never far from each other to the point Teddy often just set a place for Arizona at the table on the chance she swung by for dinner.

But by far their favorite activity was sharing lunch under an old tree down by the river behind Timothy's house.

One hot July day late in the month, Arizona laid with her head in Callie's lap as Callie leaned against the trunk of the old tree reading an old copy of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The sunlight shimmered off the water as Callie ran her fingers through Arizona's hair as Arizona popped grapes from a small dish into her mouth now and then.

"What are you doing this week, Calliope?" Arizona asked after she finished munching on another grape. "What excitement and wonder does the coming seven days hold?"

"The same things I do every week," Callie answered without looking away from her book. "Church school, helping Teddy around the house, dinner at your mother's on Saturday with the whole family. I suppose Teddy will want to do something for my birthday on Tuesday."

"Your birthday is on Tuesday?" Arizona asked while sitting up to look at Callie with a wide dimpled grin on her lips.

"It is," Callie nodded. "I'll be twenty-two."

Arizona rubbed her hands together. "Will you let me do something for you? I can take you to the river and we can have some fun. Cards and some beers and a little dancing?"

Callie looked a little unsure. She had heard some whispers about what went on down at the river from some of the local women in town she had become friends with. It didn't seem like her kind of place. But she was almost completely powerless to say no to those dimples.

"Alright, a drink or two might be fun," Callie agreed.

"Oh, it will be a grand time," Arizona leaned in to press a firm kiss to Callie's cheek. She lingered a moment while her hand found Callie's.

"Anytime with you is grand, Arizona," Callie whispered. She squeezed her hand before she laced their fingers together.

"Being with you is unlike anything else I ever knew was possible," Arizona whispered as she kissed Callie's jaw. She rested her forehead on Callie's temple as she tried to process the romantic feelings she had that she had been trying to tamper down most of the summer.

Callie pulled back after a minute or two. "Help me clean up from lunch and walk back? I promised Teddy I'd help her hang wash?" She had a softness, a tenderness, in her voice. "I like walking with you."

"I'd walk anywhere with you," Arizona whispered as she jumped to her feet and held her hand out to help Callie up.

/ /

The encampment by the river was one of the few places Arizona had ever been that she felt like she could let her guard down. The encampment was made up of old rail cars turned into homes for the women that lived there, an old barn that had been turned into a makeshift bar. It being less than a quarter of a mile to the train tracks and the river and a great swimming hole about 100 feet away it was the best meeting place for the local misfits there could be.

Arizona and Callie walked down the path from the road to the encampment side by side at dusk. Arizona dressed in her trademark suspenders, slacks and not quite white anymore button up and Callie in a simple modest floral dress.

"I've never been to a place like this," Callie said nervously as she looked at the barn where everyone was gathered. One of the walls of the barn was made of two large doors that were currently open because of the warm weather.

"Everyone is real nice," Arizona said. She turned her head to look at Callie's face in profile. With the dusky light illuminating her face, it made Callie look a bit like she was glowing. Arizona would swear on a stack of bibles her heart stopped beating for just a second at the beauty she saw. "Just stick by me if you get nervous."

Callie moved closer to Arizona as they crossed the imaginary boundary into the encampment. The back of their hands brushed together as they walked through the opened section of the bar.

"Evening, Arizona," Alex said from his seat at the bar. One of the women who lived down here, Jo, was sitting on the stool next to him with her arm wrapped around his. "Evening, Miss Callie."

"Evening, Alex," Arizona said as she put her foot on the rest at the boom of the bar. "Get the evening chores done before you came down?"

"Yup," Alex nodded. "Nothing til morning."

"Good man," Arizona slapped him on the back.

Joe, the old barman who technically owned all the land this was built on but never charged rent or forced his way of thinking on anyone, walked over to Arizona and Callie.

"Evening, ladies," Joe said as he tugged on his old cap and bowed his head slightly. "What will it be?"

"Whiskey for me and gin for Miss Callie," Arizona said as she put her hand on the middle of Callie's back.

"With soda water if you have it," Callie asked with a smile.

"I'll see what I can find," Joe said with a kind smile.

Arizona turned so her back was to the bar so she could see out into the bar. Callie moved to do the same, unsure of what else to do.

"See that man over there?" Arizona said with a jerk of her head toward a man in the corner. "That's Doc Shepherd's boy. He sneaks away from his rich daddy's house to come see Meredith Grey. Broke off an engagement to keep seeing her, it's said."

Derek Shepherd stuck out like a sore thumb. His hands were too clean to the kind of work that Alex or the other men down here did on a daily basis. He had clothes that were too clean and his sleeves were rolled a little too perfectly. But the way he lit up when Meredith leaned in to his side told the world why a doctor's son, a man who was training for the same life, was down at the encampment.

"Evening, Arizona," Owen Hunt, the local sheriff, walked over with a slight limp. "Staying out of trouble?" He asked before taking a long pull from the beer bottle in his hand.

"Course I am, Sheriff Hunt," Arizona said with a dimpled smile. "Haven't done nothing in weeks to give Momma a fit. Been helping Timothy at his new place and floating here and there taking some odd jobs."

"And who might you me, miss?" Owen said after chuckling at Arizona's response.

"Callie Torres, sir," Callie said, sticking her hand out to shake his. "I've been helping Teddy teach at the church for bible study this summer."

"Teddy mentioned you now that I think about it," Owen said with a firm nod. "Glad to have a fresh face in town and someone to help keep Arizona out of trouble. That's a full time job though."

Callie smiled brightly at Arizona and put her hand on Arizona's forearm as it rested on the bar. "I don't know about that, Sheriff Hunt. Arizona has been nothing but kind to me since I made it to Whistle Stop."

Arizona's ears turned red as she ducked her head. "No trouble at all," she said bashfully.

Owen just chuckled again at the pair. "I best go see what Cristina is up to outside at the poker game. Knowing her she has Old Tom or Crazy Billy all tied up in knots." He nodded his head to both before heading around back to where they were usually a poker game going on.

"The Sheriff comes down here and drinks?" Callie whispered after Owen was outside.

"The Great War scrambled him a bit but he's a good man," Arizona whispered back. "He and Cristina have been shacking up for years. Momma knows but pretends not to know about it since Owen doesn't have more than a rented room to bring a wife back to."

Callie reached for her gin and soda when it came out and took up a gulp of it. This wasn't the rigid and uptight world she had grown up in. Yet, the feeling of it felt somehow more her speed. She only coughed a little on the burn of her drink.

"Who are those girls?" Callie asked in a low voice as she gestured to three women in the corner at a table counting out some money. Jo wandered over to start to help with the counting.

"Local business women," Arizona said quickly before taking a large gulp of her whiskey.

One of the women, Carina, who was a brunette with a grace in her movements, got up and walked over to the bar and handed one of the counted piles to Joe. He put it in his pocket before leaning over and whispering in her ear before kissing her cheek. She took three glasses of gin back to the table with a swing in her hips.

"What are they selling?" Callie whispered.

"Everything a man could want," Alex said from the other side of Arizona. "Or a woman," He smirked at the pair before tossing a few bills on the bar.

Arizona watched as he walked over to Jo and offered her his hand with a few more bills in his palm. She smiled at him as her hand slid over the bills. She shoved them down her dress before their hands linked and they headed to one of the railcar homes Jo had.

"Are they going to ...?" Callie trailed off as she watched them leave.

"Yeah," Arizona muttered before downing her drink and gesturing for Joe to bring them both another round.

Before Callie could ask more, one of the women at the corner table, hair a dark blonde, moved towards them. She had a smirk on her lips as she stepped up to them.

"Nice night isn't it, Arizona?"

"It is, Lauren."

Arizona shivered when Lauren reached out to run her finger down one of the straps of her suspenders. She would rather be anywhere but standing in front of her right now.

"Haven't seen you in a few days. I thought you might have taken up with someone else," Lauren said as her hand moved up to smooth out Arizona's collar slightly.

Arizona bit the inside of her cheek to keep from saying something nasty with Callie standing beside her. "Have had other things to do."

"Well, you remember where I am," Lauren said as she ran her fingers over the shell of Arizona's ear. "I'm happy to share a meal with you any night you get tired of other things," she said with a smirk before nodding to Callie and walking over to a group of local men.

Callie's eyes widened as it sunk in just what Lauren was not too subtle in implying. "You come down here to visit the local business women?"

Arizona took the drink Joe just poured off the bar and downed it in one go before putting it back on the bar and gesturing for another. She downed that in a single go before she finally answered.

"Yes."

Callie nodded slowly as a few of the gestures from Arizona so far this summer started to take on new contexts. She sipped at her drink and when finished reached for the fresh one sitting on the bar.

"Okay."

"Okay?"

"Okay."

Arizona's eyes widened as she looked at Callie. She hadn't expected a simple okay to be her confirmation. And yet, that's what she got. She nodded slowly because what else could she do? Callie accepted a part of her that she didn't exactly hide but didn't shout from the rooftop either.

"Luke chapter six, verse thirty-seven, 'Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.'," Callie pointed out.

"Dance with me?" Arizona asked when someone wound up and turned on an old phonograph.

"Alright," Callie answered with a nod. "I'd like that."

Arizona slid her hand into Callie's as they headed out to where tables had been cleared so people could pair off and dance together. Arizona had a giant smile on her face when Callie's hands found her forearms as they started dancing.

/

After a few hours of dancing, drinking and general handing out at the bar, Callie and Arizona made their way down by the water.

Callie had enough gin to do a little more dancing. She stripped her dress off and waded out into the water in just her slip while Arizona drank a beer on the shore. She laid out and watched as Callie swam in the calm water under the moonlight.

As Arizona reclined on the shore, she marveled at the way the light reflected off of Callie. She looked ethereal as she swam around. For a moment, she wondered if Callie was an angel.

"This has been the best birthday," Callie grinned as she came out of the water and laid on the grass of the shore with Arizona.

"I'm glad," Arizona whispered. She reached over and ran her fingers through Callie's hair once she was laying down. "I wanted to give you a birthday you wouldn't forget."

"I won't ever forget this," Callie said as she rolled her head to look at Arizona. She reached her hand out to stroke over the curve of her cheek. "I won't ever forget you."

"Do you have to go back?" Arizona whispered. "Can't you stay in Whistle Stop?"

Callie shifted closer to Arizona as she let the question roll around in her head. As she moved closer to Arizona, Arizona moved closer to her until Callie felt Arizona's arm wrapped around her waist. Their legs tangled as the pair laid in the grass on a warm summer night.

"At the end of summer, I'm to be married," Callie admitted in a hushed whisper. "The man I'm going to marry grew up here before moving to Atlanta a few years ago. After we're married, we're moving back just outside Whistle Stop."

Callie's words caught Arizona somewhere in her chest and ricocheted like a bullet all through her insides. She closed her eyes even as her arm tightened around Callie's waist. She didn't care how much water was trapped in Callie's slip, she wanted to be as close to her as she could as if that would take the words back.

"Mark Sloan?" Arizona asked in a quiet voice. She had grown up around Mark even though they ran in different groups. He wasn't a bad man, but Arizona didn't think he deserved someone like Callie by a mile.

"He and my father are business partners," Callie confirmed with a simple nod. "He asked in March, but had to go to England for a few months to help with some contracts. I wanted to help Teddy, so we put the wedding off until he'd be back."

Arizona wanted to beg Callie not to do it. She wanted to scream and shout and fight tooth and nail to keep her away from anyone that might take her away. She knew that wouldn't do anything but push Callie away though so she kept her mouth shut.

"So, we have until summer's over?" Arizona asked instead.

"We have until the end of summer," Callie confirmed.

Arizona rolled on her back and then got to her feet. She reached her hand down to Callie with a sad smile on her lips. "Come with me?"

Callie took her hand without another word. She grabbed her dress and shoes from the grass. She put her shoes on and slipped the dress over her head before lacing their fingers together.

They walked back past Tim and Teddy's house and down the road to the Robbins homestead without a word between them. Arizona helped Callie make it up to the attic bedroom that was now hers.

"Just sleep next to me tonight?" Arizona asked once they were safely locked away from the rest of the world. "Momma won't bother me in the morning and Timothy knew you were coming with me, so he won't give us any trouble either."

Callie pulled her dress and slip over her head. Her shoes followed and then her under things until she was standing bare in the moonlight. Without another word, she started to undo the buttons on Arizona's shirt.

Arizona's eyes were close as she felt her shirt pulled out of her pants and her suspenders pushed off her shoulders. When her pants were unbuttoned and pushed down her hips she finally opened her eyes. She watched Callie's face as she was stripped and saw what she dared not hope was love.

Without bothering to dress, Callie and Arizona slipped under the thin blanket on the bed to combat the summer heat. They laid on their sides like they had on the shore of the river bank with their legs tangled and their arms wrapped around each other.

Arizona traced over Callie's cheekbone with the pads of her fingers while looking into her deep brown eyes. She swore she saw flecks of gold and orange in them in just the right light.

Calle leaned her head forward to brush her lips against Arizona's before she pulled back slightly. The pair shared matching grins at the first kiss between them being shared. It hasn't lasted more than a second or two but it had shifted both their worlds all the way around.

Arizona tucked her head under Callie's chin and felt as though her whole body was relaxed at once. She had slept in a bed with women before, romantically and platonically, but this was the first time she felt such a peace at being held.

"Sleep well," Callie whispered as she closed her eyes with a smile playing on her lips.

"You too," Arizona whispered in reply.