Crossing Borderlines (9/?)
A/N: Bet you never thought you’d see this again, huh? Well, I’m so sorry it’s taken me forever. Life was busy and there was writer’s block, and you don’t need my sob story. Instead, I am coming crawling back with my tail between my legs, and offering you the 9th chapter. I hope you enjoy! Also, I am recently back on tumblr (happy-shiny-people.tumblr.com). I will post teasers/snippets of whatever I'm writing, and I will also fill any prompt, so feel free to come find me there!
Previously on Crossing Borderlines: Callie ran into her ex-girlfriend in an airport 10 years after they’d broken up. Once they started dating again, because Callie is doing business in Arizona’s home country of England, Callie dropped the bomb that she had a two-year old daughter. Arizona asked for space. Meanwhile, in flashback land, as their graduation from college neared, Arizona admitted that she would not be living in the US any longer and would return to England. She also revealed that she didn’t want to settle yet or have kids.
Chapter 9
April 2003
“Teddy, what the hell is this?” Arizona bellowed, waving a piece of card stock, a blue tassel dancing around.
“It’s an invitation to Mark’s graduation party.”
“I see that. Why is my name on the invitation?”
“Because…you’re invited,” Teddy said slowly. “Yay!” she added as an afterthought, trying to catch up to Arizona’s confusion.
“Mark hates me.”
Teddy sighed. They’d been over this. “No, he doesn’t. He likes you, he respects you, he’s just angry with you.”
“And you agree with him.”
“It’s not that I agree, Arizona. You know I’m on your side. I’m just saying that you and Callie are both hurt, and frankly, you’re being an idiot. You hurt Callie, so naturally, Mark is going to be a little mad at you.”
“So then why the hell did he invite me?”
“I think there’s really only one way to find out,” Teddy said with a sly grin.
Groaning, Arizona slammed the invitation against their fridge and roughly attached a magnet to it. Stomping out of the room, she turned as she got to her bedroom door. “I’m going to need a new dress!”
April 2013
“Arizona, it’s Callie. I know we haven’t talked much since…well, you know. I’m in town again on business, and I…I’m not calling you for a booty call if that’s what you’re thinking. I mean, obviously I’d love to see you, but that’s not why I’m calling. I’m in a total bind. Mark freakin’ Sloan finally shed his manwhore ways and decided to settle down at the most inopportune time. He’s off on his honeymoon and so he couldn’t take Sof while I was over here. So, I brought Sofia with me on this trip. Of course, a babysitter I’ve used here before has pneumonia. I don’t have an assistant yet in England and so I just don’t know of anyone to sit for Sofia, and I have this huge fundraising thing that I absolutely cannot miss this evening. So I was wondering if you knew of anyone, or if maybe you wouldn’t mind? I’m sorry to do this. Please call me back.”
Arizona couldn’t help but smile and shake her head as she pressed the “end” button on her phone and placed it back in her pocket. She had always found Callie’s flustered ramblings endearing; clearly that had not changed.
What had changed was the fact that Callie had a child. Arizona knew she wanted Callie; she also knew she could be ready to truly settle down and start a life with someone else - together with someone else. And that someone else could very well be Callie. But their old problem still existed - they lived on two different continents - and now there was a new problem, Callie’s daughter. As much as Arizona’s heart wanted her to dive right back in, no holds barred, her brain kept telling her to run away and not return Callie’s call, however rude that might be.
Arizona looked up from her phone to realize there was now a group of hospital staff watching her muttering to herself, one of whom was her talented young and protégé, Jeff Clinton, who had been granted a prestigious Peds fellowship at the hospital. Jeff was someone Arizona would describe as a “pretty boy”. He had sandy brown hair and hazel eyes and was far too tan to have spent his life on the British Isles.
“Carry on, people! Nothing to see here!” she called to her staff, waving her hand dismissively. “Jeffery,” she added, “you have that super difficult appie this evening, right?”
“I, uh, wouldn’t call it super difficult, but…”
“But things can go wrong very quickly and so you’re going to need me there, right?” Arizona asked hopefully, her dimples popping as she leaned against the nurses’ station, sidling ever so much closer to Jeff.
“With all due respect, Dr. Robbins, you are the one who said that under no circumstances would you be there, because you said I would never learn if you were always there to help me and that I’m more than capable of doing this myself at this point. You also said you had a life outside the hospital and would gladly take the night off.”
Arizona grimaced as she remembered her speech to the younger surgeon earlier that week. “Right, well it’s my life outside the hospital that I’m trying to avoid right now.”
“So that means I’m not doing the surgery?” Arizona smiled sympathetically as she watched the man’s excited features fall into a disappointed pout.
“No, of course you are, Jeff. You’re ready for this step.” Arizona realized she was a surgeon first and foremost, and a teacher second; her personal life was a distant third. And although she was known to have her selfish moments - something to which Callie could attest, she thought ruefully - she couldn’t take this opportunity away from Jeff.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Jeffery. Good luck this evening,” she said with a smile as she patted his shoulder.
Jeff grinned at his mentor. “I won’t let you down! See you tomorrow, boss.”
Arizona sighed as she walked away from the Peds wing, headed for the locker room. As she rounded the corner toward the elevator, she nearly ran headfirst into the chief of surgery.
“Chief Connors, I’m so sorry! I didn’t see you there!”
Chief Rosalind Connors was an imposing, statuesque woman, with long brown hair, which she pulled back every day into a twisted knot, secured by a hair clip. Her brown, almost black, eyes had a way of piercing through every member of the hospital staff. Arizona knew that even without her authority issues, she would be petrified of Chief Connors.
“No matter, Dr. Robbins, but next time you should look where you are going. If that had been a patient, this could have ended very differently. I expect more carelessness from the interns, but not from my senior staff.”
“Yes, of course, ma’am.” Chief Connors always managed to turn a small incident into a long lecture.
Arizona nodded to the Chief before continuing to head toward the elevator. After just a few minutes, she turned. “Chief Connors?”
The taller woman turned slowly, as if attempting to prove how much of her precious time this interaction was wasting. “Yes?”
“You don’t have any paperwork or anything you need me to do, do you? Maybe find space in the budget for that new MRI machine you wanted?” she asked sweetly.
Connors furrowed her brow. “In all my years, Robbins, I’ve never known a head of a department volunteer to do paperwork. Oh god, did you do something? Am I going to receive a phone call from legal?”
“No, no, of course not,” Arizona answered breathily. “Just trying to fill up some free time I have this evening.”
Rosalind rolled her eyes. “Go home, Robbins,” she answered, before turning swiftly and marching down the hallway.
Arizona groaned as she finally reached the elevator, jabbing her index finger against the down button. She pulled her cell phone out of her pants pocket and scrolled through her contacts list. Hitting “Calliope”, she pursed her lips as the phone rang.
“Hey, Callie? It’s Arizona. Apparently, I’m completely free tonight, so I’d, um, I’d be happy to watch Sofia. I’ll text you my address. See you later, bye.”
April 2003
Walking into the party, Arizona grabbed on to Teddy’s arm with both hands. “Why are we doing this again?”
“Because you’re going to be leaving the country in less than a month and, you know, you should say goodbye to your friends.”
“Fine, fine, you’re right. But I’m going to need, like, 32 shots.”
Teddy rolled her eyes as they made their way to the makeshift bar set up in the kitchen of Mark’s apartment. “Arizona Hyperbole Robbins, ladies and gentlemen,” Teddy responded snarkily.
“What’s your poison, ladies?” Mark asked as they reached the kitchen.
“All the tequila for her and a rum and coke for me,” Teddy answered for both of them.
“Very funny, Teddy. I’ll have a vodka cranberry,” Arizona insisted. “And also a shot of tequila,” she conceded.
The three lapsed into an awkward silence as Mark prepared their requested drinks. When he noticed that Arizona was searching around the room, clearly looking for a particular person, he decided to speak. “She’s over in the corner, talking to Addison Montgomery.”
Arizona whipped her head around, realizing she’d been caught. “I wasn’t…I wasn’t looking for her,” she protested meekly.
“Robbins,” Mark chuckled. “I know everything’s a mess between you two and you both won’t talk to each other because you’re the most stubborn people I’ve ever met, but she wants to see you. At the very least, she wants to say goodbye.”
“Goodbye…yeah…” Arizona whispered, turning her head to the corner just in time to see Callie’s eyes flit from where the three of them were standing back to Addison.
Arizona threw back her shot, using her vodka cranberry as a chaser. “I guess it’s now or never,” she muttered to herself.
“Thanks for inviting us, Mark,” Teddy commented, once Arizona had begun making her way toward Callie. “You think they’ll get back together?”
“I don’t know,” Mark replied with a shake of his head. “I think they’re good together, but they’re both so different and they want different things in their lives.”
Teddy hummed in agreement, before turning to watch Arizona make her way towards Callie. She watched Arizona approach her ex-girlfriend and watched Callie’s body become rigid in defense. Then, she watched Callie’s body soften as she nodded her head in assent. Arizona then took Callie’s slightly outstretched hand and led them to Mark’s unoccupied spare bedroom.
“God, they can’t keep their hands off each other! Even when they’re broken up,” Mark commented.
“I think it’s nice,” Teddy said with a soft smile.
o0o0o
“So…” Arizona began once they were in the room.
“So?” Callie mimicked, her patience wearing thin.
“I just, um, I just wanted to talk. I feel like we didn’t leave things on good terms.” Callie cocked her eyebrow at Arizona’s words, so Arizona jumped in quickly, knowing what Callie would say. “And I know, I know, that’s my fault. I just - ” Arizona paused to sit down on the bed, hoping Callie would follow suit, “ - I just wanted to make sure you understand where I’m coming from.”
Callie sighed and sat on the bed, careful to leave about a foot of room between herself and Arizona. “Unfortunately, I do.”
“You do?” Arizona asked with a hopeful smile.
“Why does it matter what I think, Arizona? You broke up with me, remember? You’re going back to England.”
Arizona shook her head, biting her lip in an effort to keep her tears at bay. “I didn’t actually want to break up with you. But we want different things. We’re different people. If I stayed here for you, I would grow to resent you and I think you know that.”
Callie placed her hand in the space between them. “And if I waited around for you to want to settle down with me, marry me, and have children, and you never grew to want that, I would grow to resent you.”
Arizona nodded. How did they get to this point? Arizona wasn’t a particularly religious person, but there were times that she believed in a higher power. She believed that someone or something had brought the two of them together. But then why couldn’t it be simple? Why wasn't love enough? Arizona placed her own hand over Callie’s.
“But maybe I wouldn’t,” Callie tried. “Maybe I don’t need all that.”
“Callie…”
Callie turned her hand over so that her palm was facing Arizona’s and threaded her fingers through the other woman’s. “We had a good run,” she conceded.
Arizona laughed mirthlessly. “The best.”
Looking up from their twined hands, Callie caught Arizona’s eye and couldn’t help but lean forward. Arizona brought her free hand up to Callie’s face, gently stroking the smooth skin of her cheek.
“I will never forget you,” Arizona confessed.
Choking back her tears, Callie placed her hand on Arizona’s thigh. “Me neither.”
“It’s not my place to ask you for this, but could I - could we - have - ” Arizona haltingly asked.
“One last night?” Callie offered.
When Arizona nodded hesitantly, Callie leaned in the rest of the distance and captured the other woman’s lips with her own, silently answering Arizona’s question.
As Arizona gently pushed Callie down on the bed, they could hear the muffled din of the other party-goers celebrating the new chapters of their lives. But inside the bedroom it was just about the two of them, closing a chapter and saying goodbye.
April 2013
Callie prepared herself for screaming (Sofia was notorious for refusing her bed time) and was more than a little shocked when she heard none as she walked up the pathway to the door of Arizona’s townhouse. She knocked gently on Arizona’s door, before realizing that it was unlocked and letting herself in.
“Arizona?” Callie called out.
“In the family room!” her voice called back.
Callie made her way through the narrow entranceway in the direction of Arizona’s voice, which led her to a cozy living room. The sight that greeted her stopped her in her tracks. Arizona sat on the floor with her back against the leg of her coffee table, while Sofia was perched on her lap, twisting and turning to a made-up song only the two of them could hear.
“Little Miss and I are having a dance party,” Arizona explained, grinning at the toddler standing on her lap.
With a smile, Callie chastised softly, “you know it’s past her bedtime.”
Arizona shrugged and sent Callie an innocent smile. “Only by half an hour. And she’s so freakin’ irresistible!” Sofia giggled at Arizona’s enthusiasm, so the blonde turned her attention to the young girl and giggled back. “Yes you are!”
“You both are,” Callie muttered under her breath. She rounded the table and scooped Sofia up and out of Arizona’s lap. “Time to go, sweetheart,” she murmured in Sofia’s ear.
“Stay wif ‘Zona,” the two-year-old insisted, her voice slurring with exhaustion.
“You’re tired, m’ija. We will see Auntie Zona - ” Callie paused to wink at Arizona, knowing how much she hated the shortened version of her name, “ - some other time, okay?”
“No, ‘Zona now!” If Sofia had been standing, she absolutely would have stomped her foot emphatically.
In an effort to avoid an exhaustion-induced tantrum, Callie, still talking to Sofia, turned to Arizona, and asked, “what if Aunt ‘Zona got dinner with us tomorrow? Does that sound okay?” Callie’s voice was hesitant and timid, knowing that Arizona’s response would likely be negative.
“Oh, I don’t know, I have…a lot to do around here,” she said, gesturing aimlessly around her house.
Sofia pouted sweetly and Arizona was positive she’d learned that from her mother, who wore a matching expression. “You told me not to let you run, Arizona. And you better believe that I’m going to hold you to that.”
Arizona sighed. Freakin’ irresistible Torres girls. “There’s a kid-friendly pub down the road - The Fox and Hound. It has lots of games and things. Meet me there at 6?”
“Mama, ‘Zona come dinner!” Sofia recounted gleefully.
“Yes she is, munchkin. Yes she is.”
Previously on Crossing Borderlines: Callie ran into her ex-girlfriend in an airport 10 years after they’d broken up. Once they started dating again, because Callie is doing business in Arizona’s home country of England, Callie dropped the bomb that she had a two-year old daughter. Arizona asked for space. Meanwhile, in flashback land, as their graduation from college neared, Arizona admitted that she would not be living in the US any longer and would return to England. She also revealed that she didn’t want to settle yet or have kids.
Chapter 9
April 2003
“Teddy, what the hell is this?” Arizona bellowed, waving a piece of card stock, a blue tassel dancing around.
“It’s an invitation to Mark’s graduation party.”
“I see that. Why is my name on the invitation?”
“Because…you’re invited,” Teddy said slowly. “Yay!” she added as an afterthought, trying to catch up to Arizona’s confusion.
“Mark hates me.”
Teddy sighed. They’d been over this. “No, he doesn’t. He likes you, he respects you, he’s just angry with you.”
“And you agree with him.”
“It’s not that I agree, Arizona. You know I’m on your side. I’m just saying that you and Callie are both hurt, and frankly, you’re being an idiot. You hurt Callie, so naturally, Mark is going to be a little mad at you.”
“So then why the hell did he invite me?”
“I think there’s really only one way to find out,” Teddy said with a sly grin.
Groaning, Arizona slammed the invitation against their fridge and roughly attached a magnet to it. Stomping out of the room, she turned as she got to her bedroom door. “I’m going to need a new dress!”
April 2013
“Arizona, it’s Callie. I know we haven’t talked much since…well, you know. I’m in town again on business, and I…I’m not calling you for a booty call if that’s what you’re thinking. I mean, obviously I’d love to see you, but that’s not why I’m calling. I’m in a total bind. Mark freakin’ Sloan finally shed his manwhore ways and decided to settle down at the most inopportune time. He’s off on his honeymoon and so he couldn’t take Sof while I was over here. So, I brought Sofia with me on this trip. Of course, a babysitter I’ve used here before has pneumonia. I don’t have an assistant yet in England and so I just don’t know of anyone to sit for Sofia, and I have this huge fundraising thing that I absolutely cannot miss this evening. So I was wondering if you knew of anyone, or if maybe you wouldn’t mind? I’m sorry to do this. Please call me back.”
Arizona couldn’t help but smile and shake her head as she pressed the “end” button on her phone and placed it back in her pocket. She had always found Callie’s flustered ramblings endearing; clearly that had not changed.
What had changed was the fact that Callie had a child. Arizona knew she wanted Callie; she also knew she could be ready to truly settle down and start a life with someone else - together with someone else. And that someone else could very well be Callie. But their old problem still existed - they lived on two different continents - and now there was a new problem, Callie’s daughter. As much as Arizona’s heart wanted her to dive right back in, no holds barred, her brain kept telling her to run away and not return Callie’s call, however rude that might be.
Arizona looked up from her phone to realize there was now a group of hospital staff watching her muttering to herself, one of whom was her talented young and protégé, Jeff Clinton, who had been granted a prestigious Peds fellowship at the hospital. Jeff was someone Arizona would describe as a “pretty boy”. He had sandy brown hair and hazel eyes and was far too tan to have spent his life on the British Isles.
“Carry on, people! Nothing to see here!” she called to her staff, waving her hand dismissively. “Jeffery,” she added, “you have that super difficult appie this evening, right?”
“I, uh, wouldn’t call it super difficult, but…”
“But things can go wrong very quickly and so you’re going to need me there, right?” Arizona asked hopefully, her dimples popping as she leaned against the nurses’ station, sidling ever so much closer to Jeff.
“With all due respect, Dr. Robbins, you are the one who said that under no circumstances would you be there, because you said I would never learn if you were always there to help me and that I’m more than capable of doing this myself at this point. You also said you had a life outside the hospital and would gladly take the night off.”
Arizona grimaced as she remembered her speech to the younger surgeon earlier that week. “Right, well it’s my life outside the hospital that I’m trying to avoid right now.”
“So that means I’m not doing the surgery?” Arizona smiled sympathetically as she watched the man’s excited features fall into a disappointed pout.
“No, of course you are, Jeff. You’re ready for this step.” Arizona realized she was a surgeon first and foremost, and a teacher second; her personal life was a distant third. And although she was known to have her selfish moments - something to which Callie could attest, she thought ruefully - she couldn’t take this opportunity away from Jeff.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Jeffery. Good luck this evening,” she said with a smile as she patted his shoulder.
Jeff grinned at his mentor. “I won’t let you down! See you tomorrow, boss.”
Arizona sighed as she walked away from the Peds wing, headed for the locker room. As she rounded the corner toward the elevator, she nearly ran headfirst into the chief of surgery.
“Chief Connors, I’m so sorry! I didn’t see you there!”
Chief Rosalind Connors was an imposing, statuesque woman, with long brown hair, which she pulled back every day into a twisted knot, secured by a hair clip. Her brown, almost black, eyes had a way of piercing through every member of the hospital staff. Arizona knew that even without her authority issues, she would be petrified of Chief Connors.
“No matter, Dr. Robbins, but next time you should look where you are going. If that had been a patient, this could have ended very differently. I expect more carelessness from the interns, but not from my senior staff.”
“Yes, of course, ma’am.” Chief Connors always managed to turn a small incident into a long lecture.
Arizona nodded to the Chief before continuing to head toward the elevator. After just a few minutes, she turned. “Chief Connors?”
The taller woman turned slowly, as if attempting to prove how much of her precious time this interaction was wasting. “Yes?”
“You don’t have any paperwork or anything you need me to do, do you? Maybe find space in the budget for that new MRI machine you wanted?” she asked sweetly.
Connors furrowed her brow. “In all my years, Robbins, I’ve never known a head of a department volunteer to do paperwork. Oh god, did you do something? Am I going to receive a phone call from legal?”
“No, no, of course not,” Arizona answered breathily. “Just trying to fill up some free time I have this evening.”
Rosalind rolled her eyes. “Go home, Robbins,” she answered, before turning swiftly and marching down the hallway.
Arizona groaned as she finally reached the elevator, jabbing her index finger against the down button. She pulled her cell phone out of her pants pocket and scrolled through her contacts list. Hitting “Calliope”, she pursed her lips as the phone rang.
“Hey, Callie? It’s Arizona. Apparently, I’m completely free tonight, so I’d, um, I’d be happy to watch Sofia. I’ll text you my address. See you later, bye.”
April 2003
Walking into the party, Arizona grabbed on to Teddy’s arm with both hands. “Why are we doing this again?”
“Because you’re going to be leaving the country in less than a month and, you know, you should say goodbye to your friends.”
“Fine, fine, you’re right. But I’m going to need, like, 32 shots.”
Teddy rolled her eyes as they made their way to the makeshift bar set up in the kitchen of Mark’s apartment. “Arizona Hyperbole Robbins, ladies and gentlemen,” Teddy responded snarkily.
“What’s your poison, ladies?” Mark asked as they reached the kitchen.
“All the tequila for her and a rum and coke for me,” Teddy answered for both of them.
“Very funny, Teddy. I’ll have a vodka cranberry,” Arizona insisted. “And also a shot of tequila,” she conceded.
The three lapsed into an awkward silence as Mark prepared their requested drinks. When he noticed that Arizona was searching around the room, clearly looking for a particular person, he decided to speak. “She’s over in the corner, talking to Addison Montgomery.”
Arizona whipped her head around, realizing she’d been caught. “I wasn’t…I wasn’t looking for her,” she protested meekly.
“Robbins,” Mark chuckled. “I know everything’s a mess between you two and you both won’t talk to each other because you’re the most stubborn people I’ve ever met, but she wants to see you. At the very least, she wants to say goodbye.”
“Goodbye…yeah…” Arizona whispered, turning her head to the corner just in time to see Callie’s eyes flit from where the three of them were standing back to Addison.
Arizona threw back her shot, using her vodka cranberry as a chaser. “I guess it’s now or never,” she muttered to herself.
“Thanks for inviting us, Mark,” Teddy commented, once Arizona had begun making her way toward Callie. “You think they’ll get back together?”
“I don’t know,” Mark replied with a shake of his head. “I think they’re good together, but they’re both so different and they want different things in their lives.”
Teddy hummed in agreement, before turning to watch Arizona make her way towards Callie. She watched Arizona approach her ex-girlfriend and watched Callie’s body become rigid in defense. Then, she watched Callie’s body soften as she nodded her head in assent. Arizona then took Callie’s slightly outstretched hand and led them to Mark’s unoccupied spare bedroom.
“God, they can’t keep their hands off each other! Even when they’re broken up,” Mark commented.
“I think it’s nice,” Teddy said with a soft smile.
o0o0o
“So…” Arizona began once they were in the room.
“So?” Callie mimicked, her patience wearing thin.
“I just, um, I just wanted to talk. I feel like we didn’t leave things on good terms.” Callie cocked her eyebrow at Arizona’s words, so Arizona jumped in quickly, knowing what Callie would say. “And I know, I know, that’s my fault. I just - ” Arizona paused to sit down on the bed, hoping Callie would follow suit, “ - I just wanted to make sure you understand where I’m coming from.”
Callie sighed and sat on the bed, careful to leave about a foot of room between herself and Arizona. “Unfortunately, I do.”
“You do?” Arizona asked with a hopeful smile.
“Why does it matter what I think, Arizona? You broke up with me, remember? You’re going back to England.”
Arizona shook her head, biting her lip in an effort to keep her tears at bay. “I didn’t actually want to break up with you. But we want different things. We’re different people. If I stayed here for you, I would grow to resent you and I think you know that.”
Callie placed her hand in the space between them. “And if I waited around for you to want to settle down with me, marry me, and have children, and you never grew to want that, I would grow to resent you.”
Arizona nodded. How did they get to this point? Arizona wasn’t a particularly religious person, but there were times that she believed in a higher power. She believed that someone or something had brought the two of them together. But then why couldn’t it be simple? Why wasn't love enough? Arizona placed her own hand over Callie’s.
“But maybe I wouldn’t,” Callie tried. “Maybe I don’t need all that.”
“Callie…”
Callie turned her hand over so that her palm was facing Arizona’s and threaded her fingers through the other woman’s. “We had a good run,” she conceded.
Arizona laughed mirthlessly. “The best.”
Looking up from their twined hands, Callie caught Arizona’s eye and couldn’t help but lean forward. Arizona brought her free hand up to Callie’s face, gently stroking the smooth skin of her cheek.
“I will never forget you,” Arizona confessed.
Choking back her tears, Callie placed her hand on Arizona’s thigh. “Me neither.”
“It’s not my place to ask you for this, but could I - could we - have - ” Arizona haltingly asked.
“One last night?” Callie offered.
When Arizona nodded hesitantly, Callie leaned in the rest of the distance and captured the other woman’s lips with her own, silently answering Arizona’s question.
As Arizona gently pushed Callie down on the bed, they could hear the muffled din of the other party-goers celebrating the new chapters of their lives. But inside the bedroom it was just about the two of them, closing a chapter and saying goodbye.
April 2013
Callie prepared herself for screaming (Sofia was notorious for refusing her bed time) and was more than a little shocked when she heard none as she walked up the pathway to the door of Arizona’s townhouse. She knocked gently on Arizona’s door, before realizing that it was unlocked and letting herself in.
“Arizona?” Callie called out.
“In the family room!” her voice called back.
Callie made her way through the narrow entranceway in the direction of Arizona’s voice, which led her to a cozy living room. The sight that greeted her stopped her in her tracks. Arizona sat on the floor with her back against the leg of her coffee table, while Sofia was perched on her lap, twisting and turning to a made-up song only the two of them could hear.
“Little Miss and I are having a dance party,” Arizona explained, grinning at the toddler standing on her lap.
With a smile, Callie chastised softly, “you know it’s past her bedtime.”
Arizona shrugged and sent Callie an innocent smile. “Only by half an hour. And she’s so freakin’ irresistible!” Sofia giggled at Arizona’s enthusiasm, so the blonde turned her attention to the young girl and giggled back. “Yes you are!”
“You both are,” Callie muttered under her breath. She rounded the table and scooped Sofia up and out of Arizona’s lap. “Time to go, sweetheart,” she murmured in Sofia’s ear.
“Stay wif ‘Zona,” the two-year-old insisted, her voice slurring with exhaustion.
“You’re tired, m’ija. We will see Auntie Zona - ” Callie paused to wink at Arizona, knowing how much she hated the shortened version of her name, “ - some other time, okay?”
“No, ‘Zona now!” If Sofia had been standing, she absolutely would have stomped her foot emphatically.
In an effort to avoid an exhaustion-induced tantrum, Callie, still talking to Sofia, turned to Arizona, and asked, “what if Aunt ‘Zona got dinner with us tomorrow? Does that sound okay?” Callie’s voice was hesitant and timid, knowing that Arizona’s response would likely be negative.
“Oh, I don’t know, I have…a lot to do around here,” she said, gesturing aimlessly around her house.
Sofia pouted sweetly and Arizona was positive she’d learned that from her mother, who wore a matching expression. “You told me not to let you run, Arizona. And you better believe that I’m going to hold you to that.”
Arizona sighed. Freakin’ irresistible Torres girls. “There’s a kid-friendly pub down the road - The Fox and Hound. It has lots of games and things. Meet me there at 6?”
“Mama, ‘Zona come dinner!” Sofia recounted gleefully.
“Yes she is, munchkin. Yes she is.”