Title: All Bets Are Off 1/?

Author: GreysAddictJ

Pairing: Callie/Arizona

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: The characters are not mine. No infringement intended. Also, I don't use a beta, so all mistakes are mine.

Summary: A/U - World class professional poker player Arizona Robbins is known for keeping her cool in high intensity situations. What happens when an upstart new player, Callie Torres, sets her world spinning out of control?

A/N: It's been brought to my attention that Arizona comes off as a little condescending and bitchy in the first few chapters. Bear with me - it won't last. I promise. :-)

Arizona Robbins made her way through the casino, taking in the familiar and somehow comforting sound of poker chips rattling against one another, the hustle and bustle of the crowds, the mixture of gawking tourists and seasoned professionals. As she entered the poker room, she scanned the tables, sizing up the potential competition. She smiled slightly to herself, revealing a set of dimples, as she leaned against the registration desk's counter. Who would be the source of her winnings tonight? As her eyes flitted from table to table, she was suddenly struck by the beauty sitting at Table 8. Her mouth suddenly went dry as she gazed upon the gorgeous Latina. Not your typical player, she thought to herself. Even from across the room, Arizona could feel the woman's energy, this magic draw that captivated her. She was in the middle of a hand and seemed deep in thought, a serious expression on her face. Even so, Arizona had no doubt that her smile would light up the room.

"Hey, Arizona. What's up? What kind of game are you looking for tonight?" Ben, the floor manager on duty interrupted her reverie.

"Hi, Ben. Got any available space at a 25/50 No Limit table?"

Ben nodded. "Table 8."

Of course it would be Table 8, she thought, shaking her head. Arizona thanked him and headed to the cashier to change some of her cash into poker chips. She then made her way over to the table, trying to put her less than innocent thoughts about the mystery Latina out of her head. However, such efforts were short lived.

As she neared the table, the sound of the brunette's magical laughter rung through the air. Arizona drew up short, nearly breathless at the musical lilt of the woman's joy. She had been right, Arizona mused. Her smile was breathtaking. She was the most gorgeous thing that Arizona had laid eyes upon in quite some time. As she sat down at the only available seat, which happened to be directly across from the object of her musings, Arizona gave herself a mental pep talk. Clearly, she needed to get herself under control. It had obviously just been too long since she'd had a romantic encounter and her sex-starved body was playing tricks on her.

It was time to focus. Time to take the money of everyone at the table, the sexy brunette included. It was her job, after all, and she was damn good at it. Awesome, in fact. She smiled and nodded at the various occupants of the table as she settled in.

As she got into the flow of the game, Arizona sat back and took in the play, analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of her fellow players. Knowing this information would help her play against them – exploiting the weaknesses while avoiding potential pitfalls. She may have spent a little too much time studying a certain gorgeous player across from her, but it was all for the game . . . or at least that's what she told herself.

The brunette had some skills, Arizona had to admit. She definitely wasn't a novice. Not that Arizona hadn't picked up on a few weaknesses in her game, but overall, she was impressed. However, one thing was really bothering her. The mystery woman was wearing a very low cut, revealing top and was making sure to flirt with the men at the table at every opportunity, laughing, smiling, placing a hand on an arm, batting her eyelashes. It seemed a little forced, but the men didn't seem to notice or didn't mind if they did notice. For some reason, it made Arizona upset.

It wasn't that she'd never used her own feminine wiles at the poker table – a good player will use whatever means necessary to win. Poker had started out as a man's world and in many ways still was. She knew that certain men were incapable of taking a female player seriously, which could often be used to her advantage. This was especially true if they thought they had a chance with her. If they thought they were protecting the poor, little, weak woman, they'd make the mistake of treating her too gently, letting her get away with tactics that would have been harder to pull off otherwise. She could often get away with bluffs, betting as if she had a monster hand when she had nothing, because these type of men were unwilling to believe that a sweet, innocent woman was capable of any form of deception. Similarly, there were those men who thought of women as weak and stupid and tried hard to push her around, making strategic blunders in the process. Once Arizona had figured out which type a man was, they were easy prey.

Sure, a little flirting never hurt – little did they know that no man would ever stand a chance with her. However, she felt that the brunette was going over the top, using her feminine assets a little too much. Or maybe what really bothered Arizona was that she wasn't using those assets on her . . . no, no, that definitely wasn't it. She simply didn't want this woman to tarnish the already tenuous reputation of women poker players. It had absolutely nothing to do with jealousy. Despite her state of semi-distraction, over the course of the next hour, Arizona managed to add substantially to her stack of poker chips.

Things were going well for Callie Torres. Despite her extreme nervousness, she'd done a good job of putting up a confident façade, or at least she thought she had. She'd dressed in her sexiest top and made an effort to be friendly and flirty with the men at her table. For most of the evening, she'd been the only woman at the table and had used it as an opportunity to practice her flirting. It seemed to be working – she'd managed to dupe them out of much of their money, but they seemed happy, so long as she smiled and batted her eyelashes as she did so.

As she laughed at a dumb joke made by the man to her left, she raked in her latest pile of winnings. Looking up, she caught sight of a beautiful blonde woman making her way towards the table. Great, she thought. Now she would have competition – if the blonde knew how to charm the men. As she sat down, the blonde smiled at the players, revealing a gorgeous set of dimples. Something about her made Callie's heart skip a beat. That was weird, she thought. Must be the nerves. She continued her flirting, winning a hand here and there as she did so. She couldn't help but notice that the blonde kept staring at her – even when she wasn't looking, she could feel the ocean blue eyes upon her. It made her feel all tingly and electrified inside – she wasn't sure why, but shook it off and focused on her game.

A few hands later, Callie found herself in a hand against the other woman. She looked down at her cards, quickly going over the odds of winning in her head. The mysterious blonde pushed all of her chips into the center of the table, and confidently announced that she was "all in."

This changed things. Her hand, two queens, which had looked so good a minute ago, suddenly didn't seem so strong. From what she'd observed, the blonde seemed to be a confident, talented player. Not the type she could win over with a flirty smile or a trick play. She wondered what she'd gotten herself into. She warred with the varying emotions running through her. What was she doing here? She didn't belong at a big time poker game in Vegas. She'd gotten herself in way over her head. Yes, she'd been successful at her ex-boyfriend's home poker games and she'd found a lot of success playing online, but this was a whole different ballgame. What had she been thinking? She should have stayed in Miami, where her life was safe and comfortable.

Snap out of it Callie, she reminded herself. It was exactly this type of thinking that had made her so unhappy. She had always played it safe. If she had taken more chances, maybe her life wouldn't be so screwed up at the moment . . . or maybe she should just go back to her old life. There was something to be said for safe and uncomplicated . . . no, no, she was not going to start thinking that way again.

"The action is on you, miss," the dealer said, reminding Callie that it was her turn to act.

Callie tucked a stray lock of her raven-colored hair behind her ear and checked her cards once again, pondering her options. She should fold this hand. She has no business being in a game with stakes this high or even in this city for that matter. She should go back home and pretend that this little diversion had never happened.

A cocktail waitress appeared with a drink for her opponent.

"Here's your drink, Arizona," the waitress said.

"Thanks, Mary. This is for you" she said as she handed the waitress a $20 tip.

Turning her attention back to the table, the blonde studied Callie, a slight grin on her face as she expertly shuffled a stack of poker chips between her fingers.

Great, Callie thought. The blonde, who apparently had the unusual name of Arizona, was obviously a regular if she was on a first-name basis with the waitressing staff. That probably meant that she had a ton of experience, a ton more than Callie had. Callie felt a lump form in her throat as the niggling thoughts of self-doubt crept in once again. It didn't help that the blonde was staring right at her – she swore she could feel her eyes burning their way straight through into her brain – reading her very private thoughts. Arizona flashed her a knowing smirk, as if to confirm Callie's doubts – that she knew that Callie was doubting herself.

"Come on sweetie, you know you want to fold this hand. Just throw your cards away and we'll move on," her opponent urged, a full smile spreading across her face.

Something about the overconfident smirk on Arizona's face cut through Callie's anxiety. She had to shake things up. No more being the always cautious, always predictable Callie Torres. She studied her opponent, trying not to get distracted by how sexy her grin was, no matter how magical it might be. Wait . . . had she just admitted the blonde was sexy. No way . . . clearly she was tired and needed to quit for the evening.

Then, Arizona winked at her.

The move pushed Callie over the edge. That cocky bitch thought she was going to push her around. What, just because she flashed her dimples, Callie was supposed to do her bidding and fold her hand? No – unlike most of the players at the table, she didn't think solely with her libido. Now was the time to take chances. "I'm all in as well," she announced as she pushed all her chips towards the dealer. As she did so, she stared straight into Arizona's piercing blue eyes in an attempt to show her that she was messing with the wrong woman.

Arizona grinned smugly and shook her head, "You really shouldn't have done that, sweetie."

Callie's heart dropped as the blonde turned over two kings, which meant that Callie had lost all of her money on the table. Deciding that she was in no state to continue playing, Callie opted not to buy more chips. She stood, trying to hurry away from the table before anyone saw how upset she was. As she turned to leave, Arizona called after her.

"Sweetie, you've got to work on your poker face. Your expression told me all I needed to know about your hand. Let me guess, you're one of those internet players who's never played face-to-face in a casino before?" Arizona felt slightly guilty for the way she was teasing the brunette, but it helped distract her from the unsettling feelings the woman was causing deep within her.

Fuming, Callie turned to reply, "thanks for the advice, but you just got lucky. The odds were in my favor. Most times, you wouldn't have had kings and I'd have won that hand. So wipe that smug grin off your face."

Arizona studied her, admiring her chocolate brown eyes, which sparkled with emotion. Her sexy attire masked the fact that this woman was really quite a good player. She didn't do herself justice – playing up her bodily assets while not recognizing her true talents, namely her intelligence. Arizona was definitely attracted to her, but now was not the time or place to indulge in fantasies. She had a poker game to win.

"I'm just trying to help you out, sweetie." Arizona replied.

"I'm fine on my own, thanks," Callie retorted, anger flashing in her eyes. "I'm not some damsel in distress that needs some stranger to tell me how to live my life or how to play my cards."

With that, Callie stormed off, muttering under her breath "what does she know anyway?"

"Quite a lot, actually," a bystander commented. "Don't you know who that is? That's Arizona Robbins. She's won more tournaments than any other woman player and more than most men on the poker circuit. She's a world class player."

"Thanks, but that doesn't mean she's also not a world class jerk." Callie replied as she walked away.