Title: Popsicle
Author: walking_weapon
Rating: PG
Pairing: Callie/Arizona
Summary: Just a random one shot that came to me as was laying awake in bed freezing the other night. Unfortunately I have neither an Arizona or a Callie to warm me up :( No beta so all mistakes are mine.


Wearily I strip down and crawl into bed, and by bed I mean the sliver of mattress and the corner of the covers not occupied by Arizona. For someone so small she sure knows how to hog the covers. Even after a 36-hour shift her mere presence makes me feel better. I can’t help the grin that spreads across my face as I prop myself up on one elbow and gaze at my sleeping love. With a sigh I settle under my corner of the blankets and drape my arm around Arizona’s waist, ready for some much needed sleep.

Sometime later I wake up, but I can’t quite discern why. Groggily I glance around the room and listen, groaning when my eyes land on the clock. 4am. 4-freaking-am! I’ve been asleep for all of two hours. What gives? Arizona’s soft snores let me know she's still beside me. I don't hear our pagers or Christina stumbling around so I don’t think it was a sudden noise that woke me up. Just then I shiver and it’s this that makes me realize just how cold I am. A split second after I realize how cold I am I realize why. At some point during the night Arizona stole what little covering I had to start with. So I’ve been lying here stark naked for who knows how long. It’s a wonder I’m not hypothermic.

As I’m wracked by another shiver I realize that I need to do something or Arizona is going to wake up next to a popsicle. I’m loath to wake her up because I know she just worked a double shift, but looking at her tangled in the blankets I can’t think of a way to get back under the covers without waking her.

Gingerly I reach over and nudge her shoulder, getting punched in the face once was enough for me, she said it had something to do with her brother and practical jokes. She mutters but otherwise doesn’t stir. I nudge her again, a little harder, and she mutters some more and flops onto her back, but still doesn’t wake up. I sigh, wondering how I can wake her without getting a knuckle sandwich. I know she won’t be happy about me waking her up, she loves her sleep almost as much as I do, which is why I’ve been going about this rather gingerly. I try gently shaking her once more, but all this results in is some more muttering and a wild flail of her arm. I jerk back to avoid getting smacked and decide enough is enough, desperate times call for desperate measures.

I quickly get up and go over to the dresser where our pagers are sitting. She’s going to hate me for this, but I don’t really see any other option if I want to keep all of my teeth. With one last glance at her adorably sprawled out form I take a deep breath and page her.

The result is instantaneous. She bolts upright, throws off the covers and stumbles towards the dresser I’m still standing by. I don’t say anything at first because she’s stumbling towards me naked and for a split second I forget how to do anything, including breathe. I’m jolted out of my lusty stupor by Arizona’s sleep laden voice.

“Calliope? Why are you standing there naked? It’s freezing.” She says this as she picks up her pager and all I can do is laugh at how absurd this must look. I abruptly stop at the look on her face when her head jerks up after reading the page and that it’s from me.

“Popsicle?! What the hell Callie! I just worked a double shift and you pull a stunt like this!” She’s pissed; she only ever calls me Callie when she’s pissed.

“What are you doing?” I ask as she starts to fumble around the floor for her clothes.

“Going home. I don’t know what that was, but I’m too exhausted to care. I’m going to my place to get some sleep. If you know what’s good for you, you won’t do that again.” She says as she pulls a shirt, which I’m pretty sure is mine, over her head. I grab her arm as she reaches for a pair of pants.

“Wait. Just wait, let me explain.”

“No, Callie. I don’t—” I place my hand over her mouth to silence the rant I sense coming.

“Please just let me finish and then if you’re still mad you can leave. Ok?” I plead. I knew the pager was a bad idea, but really what choice did I have? She nods slightly so I remove my hand. She stands there, half dressed with her arms crossed, and despite the delicacy of the situation I can’t help but think she looks adorable. I sigh and run a hand through my hair to prevent the smile I can feel coming. Taking a deep breath I brace myself for the worst and start trying to explain.

“Ok, here goes. I got home from my shift and I was exhausted so I fell asleep no problem despite the fact that you were hogging the bed.” She looks like she’s about to defend herself so I raise my hand to forestall her and quickly keep explaining.

“No, don’t try and argue. You hog the bed and you hog the covers, more than any human being I’ve ever met despite how small you are; which I think is adorable by the way, but that’s not my point. My point is that I had hardly any blankets when I fell asleep and when I woke up freezing at 4am I had no covers at all and you were so tangled up in them that I couldn’t get any back without waking you up.” I finish in a rush and look at her expectantly. Her expression has softened somewhat, but she still looks a bit annoyed.

“Ok so you had to wake me up. Why couldn’t you just shake me awake or something? Why page me? I hate getting paged in the middle of the night because that means it’s really, really serious. I have so much adrenaline going through me right now I won’t be able to sleep for hours.” She looks at me, exasperation clearly written across her face.

“Ididn’twanttogetpunched.” I mutter as quickly as I can. I’m a little embarrassed by the fact that, hardcore ortho-chick that I am, I’m afraid of her perky little fists.

“What? Callie I have no idea what you just said.” I can tell she’s getting pissed again so I take deep breath and repeat myself more slowly. “I didn’t want to get punched. The last time I tried to shake you awake you punched me remember?”

“Oh…”

“And besides, I almost got smacked because I tried that anyway.”

“Oh. Um…sorry?” she says sheepishly as she bites her lip.

“I’m sorry too. I know what it’s like to get paged in the middle of the night so I should have figured something else out. I guess my brain was just a bit frozen.” I add with a smirk.

“Still, I shouldn’t have overreacted. And ya it’s really freaking cold.” She exclaims as she starts to pick up the covers from the pile they ended up in on the floor when she reacted to the page.

“Ya it is.” I laugh as I help her get the blankets straightened out on the bed. Once they’re somewhat in place we both quickly climb under them. I wrap her firmly in my arms and entangle ours legs.

“There.” I state matter of factly.

“What?” She mumbles.

“Now you can hog the covers all you want because I’m attached to you.” She giggles in response and then turns her head to kiss me good night. Her mere presence might have made me feel better after my shift, but holding her arms right now feels like heaven. It’s totally worth almost becoming a popsicle.