Note: I'm not a person who likes to write longer fics. I prefer writing one-shots. In order to make a story what I want it to be, I only write whenever I think my idea is good enough to write it down. So unless I have a proper idea, there won't even be a fic. And they usually just work for one-shots. Now, since many of you asked me to continue After the Storm, I came up with this here. It's not a second chapter, it's more like another one-shot. It will work without reading the other fic. Some parts are the same, but other aren't. This is from a different POV, so yeah :) Hope you like it nonetheless!


She'd gone home as soon as it was safe to leave the hospital. The storm had calmed down after a few hours. She'd sat on her sofa ever since she'd come home.

"I can't. I made a mistake," Arizona had told her. She hadn't wanted to talk about this back then, but it was important to Lauren. She wouldn't leave things like this, that much was sure. She hoped that she wasn't just one of Arizona's mistakes, some sort of rebellion. It had felt so right back then. All it had taken was for her to tell the blonde that she was allowed to lose a little bit of control. The next thing she remembered was the sound of the door being locked and the soft feeling of Arizona's lips on her own. Lauren noticed that she was smiling and shook her head to let go of those thoughts.

She hadn't wanted to talk about this back then, so she'd said. But when was the right time to talk about this? Lauren knew that Arizona was married. She knew all that. She didn't like what she was doing. You just face facts that it can't happen; you walk away. Find someone available instead. Yes, that was the right thing to do. But she couldn't do that. She liked that blonde woman, a lot. She had to smile again when she remembered their conversation on the elevator; how Arizona had thought she could scare her off by telling her she had only one leg.

Weird noises from the hallway put her out of her thoughts. It sounded like someone was crying. At first she thought it was just her imagination and let it go, but then there it was again. Lauren made her way to the door and opened it carefully, so she could step out into the hallway.

"Arizona?" Lauren was confused. She had just been thinking about the blonde woman that so easily stole a place in her heart, and now said woman was sitting in the hallway right in front of her door.

"What are you doing here? How did you even know where to find…?" She'd never told her where she lived. They never had the chance to talk about it before. Her conversations had always been reduced to blatant flirting and professional talk at work. Her voice was soft when she said those words, only to forget the talking as soon as Arizona looked up at her. How beautiful she was, even though her eyes were red from crying, tears still streaming down her face. She was a mess and it broke Lauren's heart to see her like that. She sat down next to her and carefully put her hand on Arizona's arm. She wanted her to know that she was there for her, that she wasn't alone anymore. That it was going to be okay again.

"She kicked me out. I told her everything, Lauren. I told her and we had this huge fight and… I have nowhere else to go." Hearing that from Arizona was horrible. She'd never meant for this to happen. She shouldn't have let it happen. Arizona was barely keeping it together. They'd had this huge fight and it was all her fault.

"I'm sorry," she looked at the floor, her hand still resting on Arizona's arm.

"It's not your fault. It was my decision. I made a mistake. But… no I didn't. It wasn't a mistake and, I'm sorry for treating you the way I did." Lauren was surprised to hear Arizona tell her this. She expected her to say anything but this. She expected her to blame her for everything, to be mad at her, hell even hate her for getting her into this situation.

"Come on," she said, slowly standing up again, dragging Arizona onto her feet.

"You're going to stay with me and get some sleep. It'll be okay." She had to take care of her now. Arizona had nowhere else to go, and deep down Lauren felt guilty for causing this mess. The least she could do was to be there for Arizona now. She wanted to be there for her, hell, she wanted her. It's really hard not to like you, she thought.

Not letting go of Arizona's arm, Lauren helped the blonde inside and closed the door behind them.

"Here, sit down," Lauren said as she guided Arizona to her sofa and gave her a box of tissues, before she disappeared into the kitchen.

When she returned with a cup of tea, she noticed that Arizona had calmed down a bit. She smiled at her and made her way around the small table to sit down next to her.

"Sorry, I ran out of coffee and with the storm, well…" she said apologetically.

"Thank you. I'm sorry for just showing up like this. I'm sorry for everything. It was not a mistake and it was really not your fault. You made me realize something." Arizona's voice was calm and husky. Lauren didn't dare to interrupt her, so she simply moved closer to Arizona to show her that everything was going to be okay. In her head she was having this argument whether or not it was okay to put her hand on Arizona's. To hell with it, she thought and just went for it. She gently placed her hand on the blonde's and was relieved when she saw a slight smile cross Arizona's face.

After a small pause, she continued. "You made me realize that it was going to happen anyway. You were just the person who made me realize that it couldn't go on like this. That I couldn't go on like this. You made – no, you make – me feel like a person again. You don't pity me; you take me for who I am. Ever since the plane crash, I've been the person who lost a leg. Callie, I know she didn't mean to, but she always acts as though she'd been there. And I said some terrible things during our fight, but I just couldn't go on like this. When we were standing in that elevator and I told you I had only one leg, you were the first person who didn't make this big deal out of it. You just said you knew."

Lauren listened to her opposite's little speech in awe. She didn't know what to say to that. She'd never expected Arizona to open up to her like that. She'd always been so distant, trying to stay away from Lauren, who had always admired her strength and willpower.

She was about to say something when Arizona interrupted her once again.

"You don't have to leave things like this, you know. I don't want to leave things like this either." The blonde said, turning her head to look into Lauren's eyes.

Lauren almost lost herself in those pretty blue eyes. Still red from all those tears she could see that light in them.

"Wha-" she short-haired woman started, only to be stopped by soft lips on her own. It felt good, yes, even somewhat familiar. She inhaled the other woman's scent and smiled into the kiss.

"You know what I mean." Arizona simply said when they broke apart again.

"You should get some rest. It was one hell of a day for you, hm?" Lauren said, smiling. She still couldn't believe what just happened. When the blonde nodded, she got up and waited for Arizona to lie down.

Lauren grabbed the empty cup from the table and went into the kitchen again to get rid of it. When she came back, she was greeted with this beautiful person lying on her sofa, her eyes closed and her face relaxed. Smiling, she went to the sofa and grabbed the blanket to cover up Arizona.

She turned to leave for her bedroom when she felt fingers wrap around her wrist.

"Stay," Arizona mumbled.