*Knock-Knock*
Arizona knocked on the door which borne the nameplate
Preston Burke
Assistant Director
"Come in", Came the voice from the inside
Arizona popped her head in the room and said, "Good Morning, Boss."
"Oh, Agent Robbins come on in and have a seat," Burke said, gesturing towards the chairs in front of his desk.
Arizona took the seat nervously and waited patiently for the man to speak, who was typing something aggressively on his computer. After typing the mail, Burke finally looked at Arizona, eyeing her keenly.
"Do you know who I was sending this mail to?" Burke asked with a dismal expression
"Umm… No sir," Arizona replied
"I was sending the mail to Deputy Director at DC, trying to explain why my team went to a house in the suburbs to investigate and came out with three severely injured agents and their wounded supervisor," Burke said, pursing her lips.
"Umm…"
"I am not finished yet," Burke said firmly "before that, I was on the call with the executive director, who plans to have my head on the plate if I don't give him the solid reason for that raid… so SSA Robbins tell me what should tell them, "He said emphasising on SSA. Narrowing his eyes to slit
"Well, sir, my informant had told me about the possible espionage, so naturally, I had to check. It looked like a normal neighbourhood when we reached it, and there wasn't anything fishy about that place. It was a perfect disguise. Once we entered the house, we found that the House was spotless. There was no chemical residue, no papers, no wire traps, or anything suspicious."
"The whole house was cleaned off with bleach. We knocked on some walls to ensure there wasn't any hidden room or compartment, but it came out negative. I had no choice but to abort the raid. Just after I called off the raid, I heard the sound from somewhere in the house. I realised that the sound was coming from the door hidden behind the bookshelf. That door led to the basement, so I checked it out with Anderson, Wilson, and Karev. As soon as we reached the basement, we saw one guy who immediately flew from a back door. Wilson and Anderson ran behind the guy while Karev and I stayed back to check the area." Arizona said and continued after catching a breath,
"As per Anderson and Wilson, after running a few blocks, that guy hid somewhere, and when they reached near him, he hit Wilson on the head, beat her up and then shot Anderson. Meanwhile, in the basement, we were looking around and found a table with some blueprints on it, but the moment Karev opened the drawer, the bomb went off, burning the blueprints, injuring him gravely and knocking me off my feet." Arizona recounted the story as it is. Burke listened to the whole story intently. After Arizona finished, he didn't say anything for a while, his Cold gaze fixed penetratingly on an anxious young woman.
"What about that guy?" Burke asked
Arizona shifted uncomfortably on her seat "umm… after he shot Anderson and knocked out Wilson... he… um… escaped"
"Great! … just Great!" Burke said irritably, "So we have no proof of espionage, no one in custody, three agents injured, and thousands of Dollars claim on our head… Just Fucking Great"
"No evidence! … that bomb blast is pretty damn evidence, I'll say… we will go back and check… I am sure we would get some evidence, bomb residue or something… I know the bomb was chemical, so I am sur-" before Arizona could finish, Burke cut her off.
"For your information, after you and your agents were sent to the hospital, there was another blast, and that whole house is in rubbles. There is nothing but dust and wreckages; we cannot get shit from there."
"Fuck!" Arizona exclaimed in shock.
"Yes! Fuck, and now I am left with nothing but your word," Burk barked.
"My word? Do you think I went there just for fun? Got my agent and myself blown away for fun… why would I go to a random house and almost get killed" Arizona asked crossly.
"The housing authority is suing us; they are claiming that blast was a gas explosion, and they are sure it's because the FBI tampered with gas pipes or something." Burked snapped.
"Gas Explosion! Are you freaking kidding me?" nobody heard the 1st explosion? it wasn't as big, but someone surely would have heard it?" Arizona replied
"There was some construction going on the road… so IF there was a small blast, there is a possibility that it was gone unnoticed by the people around," Burked said
"Wow! That's convenient… and what do you mean by IF? You think me and my team are making it up?" Arizona said with conviction
Burke closed his eyes and took a deep breath before speaking, "All I am saying, Robbins that nothing supports your story… so I am having difficulty explaining it to others."
"Do YOU believe us? Arizona asked, squinting her eyes
"I umm…"
"Got it… so next time if some intel comes, we will sit on our ass and do nothing", Arizona snapped back.
"Robbins, I don't appreciate to be talked like that", Burke shouted.
"No! You know what I don't Appreciate; to be implied that I and MY team, who got shot, blown up, maimed, and whatnot, is making stories that even after dedicating every waking minute to this organisation, we are questioned for our credibility… That's what I don't appreciate," Arizona yelled back; even though her issue with authority was telling her to cry, her pride and protectiveness for her team were overpowering. She was standing tall, breathing heavily in rage.
"Sit Down!" Burke said with clenched teeth.
"No, thank you, I will take my leave now", Arizona replied with equal clenched teeth.
"We are not FINISHED" Burked yelled.
"YES, WE ARE!" she barked, and with that, Arizona left the room, slamming the door behind her.
She was fuming; she knew that Preston always had a problem with her, but she never thought he would question her credibility.
Preston Burke Came into the Seattle FBI when their previous Assistant Director Jordan Kenley suddenly passed away two years back. Burke wanted to bring his team from Washington, with whom he had been working for the last five years, but he was blatantly refused by the Director of FBI- Seattle as he didn't want to change their best team, which Arizona led. They had more closed cases in the unit, making the Director look like a Big Shot. Just like any other organisation, He shamelessly took the credit for the team's hard work. So, when Burke suggested that he should bring the group working under him to Washington, he was refused, which made him hold a grudge against Arizona and her team. What also didn't help the matter was that Arizona had the habit of going rouge from time to time. In some cases, if she felt that the step that she needed to take was necessary for either the team or the mission, she would not waste time going through all the red tapes. Instead, she would act and face the consequences later. With Kenley, she never had an issue; he trusted her and her judgement. After she had taken any action without getting the clearance, he would reprimand her and then pat her on the back for a good job.
With Burke in the picture, her leadership was kept under scrutiny. Burke didn't appreciate the way she handled the mission. Even if her way got him the result, he still insisted on following the proper channel. It's not like Arizona always breaks the protocol, she always strives to do things by the books, but she also knew that many perp's getaways when they wait for the approvals to come through. So, whenever her cost versus benefit analysis allowed her, she would take the required action, which is why they were the best team on the west coast.
After leaving Burke's office, Arizona went straight to her own office and dropped down on the chair. Her face was red with anger, and throbbing in her shoulder and ankle was not helping with the mood. She opened the drawer, swallowed two tablets to relieve herself from the pain and closed her eyes until the tablet did its work.
…
Callie was exceptionally chirpy this morning; it was because of the bright and shiny weather, the fact that she just had a fantastic surgery or the fact that she got herself a date with the blue-eyed, dimpled blonde? Who knows? Who can say?... it was because of the blonde.
After her surgery, she went to the café and found her best friend standing in the line, hitting on yet another girl. She walked next to him and patted him on his shoulder. "If you are done harassing that girl, can we talk?"
The guy looked back at Callie and smiled widely. "Torres! I haven't seen you in a while!"
"When your so-called best friend comes back from his conference and immediately starts hitting on a new cafeteria girl instead of meeting HIS best friend, that's what happens", Callie replied sarcastically.
"I was not hitting on the new cafeteria girl", Mark replied, but when Callie gave him a look that said ", don't even try to lie", he backtracked ", Yeah, ok, I was hitting on her."
"Mmhmm! So how was your conference?" Callie asked
"I Nailed it… obviously", Mark replied in his usual pompous tone
"You are so full of yourself", Callie replied, squinting her eyes.
"You can be full of me too if you meet me in the on-call room," Mark said smirkingly.
"First of all,… Eww!" Callie said, scrunching her nose, while Mark gasped, feigning hurt.
"Since when did our sexcapades become Eww for you? Mark asked
"Since…" Callie smiled shyly " I met someone".
"WHAT!" Mark exclaimed loudly
"Shhh! Came down, Nancy drew," Callie said, rolling her eyes.
"I need deets Torres and I need them now."
"There is no deets to give."
"Don't play with me, Torres… you know there are only three things I am serious about… my little general… plastic surgery aannnddd… lady-loving."
"Just when I thought you can't be any grosser… you just prove me wrong", Callie replied, shaking her head.
"Yeah yeah… quit stalling and spill, Torres", Mark insisted
"There is nothing to spill… it's just… a few days back few FBI agents came to the ER, and one of them gave me her business card," Callie replied nonchalantly
"just like that… she gave you her card just like that", Mark asked with raised eyebrows
"Well… there may be a tiny-tiny flirtation… that could have taken place."
"I knew it", Mark exclaimed, pumping his fist in the air "tell me more… did she frisk you… did the full body search" mark added, bouncing his eyebrows and smirking.
"Mark", Callie said in a warning tone.
"Okay, sorry… but tell me everything", Mark replied
For the next few minutes, Callie told him about her first meeting with Arizona, their flirting, and messages the other day. After which, the mark quickly switched on her phone to google her.
"It's no use… I already searched for her… she is like a ghost… there is one profile on Facebook that too created ten years back on which she never posted anything," Callie said, pouting
"Hmm, it's suspicious", Mark replied, frowning.
"Maybe… or maybe she is in the FBI and does what to reveal herself too much… you know how social media is nowadays", Callie replied, shrugging her shoulder. Sure, she found it rather odd that Arizona had no trace online, but she decided not to overthink it and give Arizona the benefit of the doubt.
"Hmm... maybe… but next time she is in the hospital, I would like to meet her," Mark said firmly, and Callie nodded. After having lunch Mark and Callie went their separate ways for the rest of their shift.
…
On Friday morning, Arizona woke up with pounding pain in her shoulder; indeed, she had slept at the wrong angel last night. She doesn't even remember when she fell asleep. She looked around and found some paper lying around on her bed. The realisation hit her that she was reading the forensic report from the blast site, which said that there was nothing shady and the blast was from the gas explosion, and yet Alex was lying in the hospital with chemical burns on his shoulder.
"Something is not right," Arizona thought, but before she could ponder over that, the pain in her shoulder captured her attention. Groaning and sighing, she got out of the bed and went to the medicine cabinet, hopping on one foot. After swallowing two painkillers, she plops down on her bed once again. She glanced at her watch and realised that tonight it's her date with Callie. Suddenly getting excited, she picked up her phone to message her.
Arizona: I hope someone is as excited about the date tonight as I am.
Callie was in the middle of the surgery when her phone beeped; she gestured for the nurse to read the message. As the nurse read the text message out loud, a slight blush came off Callie's face. She asked the nurse to leave the phone as it was as she planned to reply to Arizona later.
Arizona felt a little disappointed when she saw that her message was read, but no reply came; then, she convinced herself that Callie might be busy. After they got ready for the day, she had to make some calls and ask for some favours regarding this case. All the evidence and information pointed toward that location, yet somehow, nobody could find anything there. Either the issue is more complicated than Arizona first thought. There was a bigger game at play, and someone inside the country was helping them who had good ties at the FBI.
She didn't realise how long she had been working until the ding from her phone broke her concentration. She picked up the phone and smiled, seeing the message from Callie.
Callie: I don't know about someone, but I, for one, am very excited about the date. Sorry, it took a long time to message you. I was in surgery when you texted—leaving for home to get ready for my date with someone.
Arizona smiled, thinking about how easy it was to talk to Callie, and they had known each other for only a few days. This was the first time Arizona felt like this, and the level of attraction she had for Callie was both scary and exciting. She glanced at the clock and realised that it was almost time for her date, and she needed to get ready. After dropping a quick text stating that she would pick her up at six sharp, she went to take a shower.
Around 5:20 in the evening, Arizona got ready for the date. Looking at the sling on her hand and cast on her ankle, she was second-guessing the decision of asking Callie on a date before she was healed. One, because of the cast on her ankle, she couldn't wear heels. Second, she couldn't wear her body-hugging suit because of the sling, so she had to make her peace with regular fit blazers and flats. On the second thought, nothing could stop Arizona from asking Callie out. So, she gave herself a final look in the mirror, headed down to the cab she had called and left to pick up Callie.
Callie was twirling around in front of the camera, which had Mark and Addison at the conference. This was the fifth dress she had shown them, and she was still unsure.
"Oh My God! Callie, pick a dress already. You look good in every one of them," Addison exclaimed, rolling her eyes.
"Torres, wear the black off-shoulder one. It enhances your curves… She is gonna have a hard time keeping her hands off you… trust me," Marked chimed in with his expert opinion.
"I am not trying to get laid, guys… I want her to like me but also... you know…. want me…." Callie said with a wink, "So help me find a dress that does just that."
"You know which dress says that?" Addison asked
"Which?"
"ALL OF THEM", Addison shouted. "Just pick a fucking dress and get ready; else, she will be at your door, and you will have to greet her in a towel."
"well, that could work as well… but you won't be able to go to dinner… if you know what I mean," Mark said, winking
"Shut up, Mark!" Both women said together.
"Okay, Okay, Okay, fine… I am wearing a red one… final," Callie said firmly. "It looks good, right?"
"YES!" both Mark and Addison exclaimed together.
"Okay, thank you, guys… I love you… Bye"
"Tell me everything once you are back… I will be waiting," Addison said.
"Okay… now bye, I need to get ready," Callie said, blowing the kiss at the screen.
After they disconnected the phone, Callie got ready in record time. She was applying her mascara when there was a knock on the door.
Stumbling on her unfasten sandals Callie walked quickly to open the door. She took a long and calming breath before unlocking her door, and as she opened the door, her breath hitched. She looked at the blue eye blond standing in front of her wearing a blue semi-casual suit which consisted of a blue blazer, white silk blouse and skinny blue jeans on that she had a light grey overcoat. The whole attire gave a bossy and sexy look, making Calli weak at her knees.
"Hi", Arizona breathed out as she got the first look at Callie.
As soon as Arizona's eyes landed on the Latina, she was blown away. She knew that Callie was beautiful; someone who can pull off scrubs can pull off anything, but she still didn't know how stunning Callie was until now. The red knee-length dress complemented her caramel skin, and the fabric hugged her in all the right places. The neckline was just right, subtly giving a little peek of the ladies. Arizona shamelessly ogled Callie from top to bottom without even realising it, and from the other side of the door frame, Callie was doing the same thing. Their staring contest was broken by the honking of a car nearby.
"Oh … ahem… hey," Arizona said, coming out of her trance-like state.
"ahem… yeah…Hi," Callie said, smiling.
"You… look… Jaw-droppingly stunning," Arizona said, regaining her confidence.
"Oh… thank you, Agent Robbins", Callie replied, resuming her flirty self. "But I have nothing on you… I mean, you are looking breathtaking."
Arizona blushed a little; it's not like she did know that she was pretty but coming from Callie's mouth did something to her body and heart that even she couldn't understand this feeling.
"Yeah... Well… ready to go?" Arizona asked, offering her hand to Callie.
Callie grabbed the keys and wallet from the table near the door, fastened her sandals, took the proffered hand, and let Arizona take the lead. Upon reaching the car, Arizona opened the door for Callie to sit and went to take the other side to take the seat. After giving the address to the driver, she took Callie's hand in hers and smiled, looking at her, while the driver manoeuvred the car between the traffic toward their destination.
What's up, pretty people,
Thank you for the reviews on the last chapter… which I posted more than a month back … I know I am horrible, but I am really trying. I hope you are still with this story and have not lost hope. My other story, "it has always been you", has also been updated a few days back..( just in case you don't know). I hope you like this chapter. Please let me know what you think… please review, guys…
Special thanks to all the silent readers for keeping reading and giving your love.
Stay safe
Love
~RT