Opening notes: Hi and welcome! Thank you for clicking on this story and giving it a chance. The plotbunnies wouldn't leave me alone on this one. I won't be able to update too often, maybe twice a month. The first chapter is just the prologue or a taster if you'd prefer to call it that. Future chapters will be longer. Please note that this story as a whole is rated M for adult themes. Reader discretion is advised.

Locked Away

-Prologue: Adieu-

June 2009

The sign said NO TRESPASSING: VIOLATORS WILL BE PROSECUTED in six inch tall bold black letters, but that didn't stop Arizona and Callie from scaling the eight-foot fence. They were deep in the forest, on top of a mountain, where not many people traveled or even knew about; the chances of getting caught were slim. Yesterday, Callie had promised to show Arizona what it felt like to be on top of the world. Arizona didn't know what that meant exactly, but she was all in regardless of what might happen.

On the other side of the fence, Callie hit the ground running and Arizona followed without question until they came to another gate with another sign warning of their potential doom if they didn't turn back.

"Are you sure about this?" Arizona asked as she pushed the unlocked gate open.

"Trust me," Callie answered, stopping for a moment to look the other woman directly in the eyes. "Please?"

Arizona face reddened and she nodded. Even though she'd only known Callie a short time, she trusted that girl with her life.

Together they stepped through the opening and stopped at the bottom of a mammoth weather-beaten steel structure. Running up the center, in a zig-zag pattern, were more stairs than Arizona had ever seen in one place. Her eyes grew wider as she looked up and up and up to what looked like a speck in the sky. Her mouth fell open. She didn't know what to say.

"It's an old fire lookout tower," Callie explained, giving her a sort of mischievous smile as she pointed a finger skyward, "and we're going to the top."

Before Arizona could protest, Callie was climbing the stairs, shattering the intense quiet around them as her hiking boots hit each steel step with a loud bang.

Again, Arizona followed. She didn't dare look down, her focus solely on counting every step as they ascended- five, ten, thirty, then a hundred and two hundred and more. At that point, her heart pounded in her head, her lungs screamed for air, and she started to move slower and slower, even stopping multiple times to catch her breath. Sweat made her hair stick to her face and neck and her tank top felt glued to her back. She was sure she was going to pass out before she got to the top. She couldn't even see Callie anymore.

But knowing she'd be waiting for her at the top made Arizona keep going and when she reached the large viewing platform, Callie rewarded her with that same wide open smile had made Arizona need to talk to her in the first place. Callie held out a bottle of water to her and she took it gratefully. It wasn't until it was emptied that she finally looked beyond the other woman and she felt her breath catch in her throat.

"Holy..." Arizona trailed off as she pushed her sunglasses away from her eyes to the top of her head to get a better look. The sun was high and bright, but she would swear she could see even heaven from their perch. That thought made her think of her parents, but she pushed it out of her mind as quickly as it came and focused again on what was in front of her. The panoramic views of the snowcapped mountains sixty miles to the east and the valley equidistant to the west were immeasurable. And the vast blue sky filled with fluffy white clouds seem to stretch on to infinity. It made her feel incredibly small and insignificant, but at the same time, she'd never felt more alive. None of it seemed real. A breeze picked up, cooling her damp skin and she shivered, giving her the feeling of an entire body experience.

"Right?" Callie said when she saw the wonderstruck look on Arizona's face.

"I-" Arizona couldn't think of any words to continue. It didn't even feel right to make a sound. The kind of silence that surrounded them on top of the tower was unlike anything she'd ever experienced.

"This is where I come when I want to forget," Callie said, breaking the silence so abruptly it startled Arizona.

"Forget what?" Arizona asked even though she had an idea.

"Everything." Callie shrugged. "Life."

"Sounds personal."

"Yeah."

"Why'd you bring me then?"

"You're not something I want to forget." Callie sighed, hesitating before adding, "and I thought you'd like to come here when I'm gone."

Arizona sucked in her breath. She thought they'd had an unspoken agreement not to mention what was going to happen the next day. She closed her eyes in an effort to stop herself from crying. She was so bad at goodbyes and she's had so many lately: her parents, her best friend, and now Callie. She felt like she didn't have much left. "I don't want to forget you either," she said, daring to open her eyes again to stare out over the tree tops that had towered above them from the ground. She couldn't bring herself to look at Callie, whose eyes she could feel burning into her. She knew if she did, she'd really lose it.

"So, did I deliver or what?" Callie asked in an attempt to change the subject.

Arizona nodded. Up on that tower, so high above the world and her problems, nothing else mattered at that moment. And with Callie standing at her side, she truly did feel like she was on top of the world. She wished it could last.