"Red wine, please," said Arizona as she sat down at Joe's bar. This day was perhaps one of the worst she'd had in months. Besides having to deal with a terminal stage of cancer at a little girl- a little girl that kept reminding her of her Sofia and how she wasn't there anymore- she had the Alex and Andrew situation to worry about. This frankly gave her a lot to think, because even if Alex was a good friend of hers- not to mention she basically raised him- this time he'd screwed up bad. A few tears gathered in her eyes, tears that mixed disappointment and sleeplessness, but she blinked them away. Then, she heard a voice from behind; a familiar voice, which once used to make her put up her biggest smile, but which now sounded hurt and defeated.
"One tequila please," the voice said, as she sat down next to Arizona. "You know what- keep them coming."
"Well," said Arizona turning to her and looking straight into those deep, brown eyes. "Hey there."
With her mind crowded with thoughts of anger and fear and hurt, Callie stepped into the good old bar that was Joe's. Wanting to sit down at the counter, she stopped a few feet away at the sight of the blond hair she could and would never forget. Gathering the little courage she had left, she told the bartender her order without any resentment. Then, she sat down next to Arizona so close their shoulders would almost touch, feeling the scent that once used to drive her crazy.
"Well, hey there," Arizona spoke, turning to her. Callie looked into Arizona's eyes, the same stunning ocean blue eyes and flashed a small smile.
"Hey," she said with a sad voice, but she couldn't continue, as she felt like breaking. She covered her face with her hands, blocking any tears from falling.
"Callie, what's wrong?" Arizona asked, surrounding Callie with her hand. "What happened?"
For a few second Callie didn't say anything, but taking a deep breath and wiping away tears, she said, "Penny left me. Well technically, I left her. I found her with another woman."
"No," said Arizona. "How long has it been going on?"
"I don't know and I don't care. I mean I've been cheated on three times; I must've set a record. It's like I'm a magnet for adultery."
Arizona cleared her throat, clearly thinking of what she'd done. "Look, it's not that."
"No, you don't need to defend any of you. I mean George was basically a kid when he married me. And you'd lost your leg and Penny- I don't know what the hell Penny's problem was, but then again, I don't care anymore," she said, downing the shot.
"One more, please," Arizona said to the bartender, referring to Callie's drink.
"You don't need to do this, you know. Be here for me. I'm not your worry anymore," Callie said, her voice even more full of sorrow now.
"Hey, don't say that. Just because we're not married anymore doesn't mean I won't still care about you. I will always care about you."
Arizona's voice was the same as always, Callie thought. Warm, soft, caring. As she met her gaze again, shivers ran down her back, realizing she'd missed her. Did she do the wrong thing? Divorcing her?
"Thank you," Callie said and downed the shot again.
"So, what now?" Arizona asked. "Are you back?"
"Well, as long as I can get my old job back, I'm back, baby," Callie said, taking one more shot.
"Oh, you don't need to worry about your job," said Arizona as he took sips of her wine. "Not only they've been searching for someone to fill in the post, but Bailey loves you. Everyone in that hospital loves you."
"Not everyone," Callie said.
"Believe me," said Arizona.
What on Earth was she telling her? Everyone loved her? Everyone including herself?
Callie raised her eyebrows. Did that mean Arizona still loved her? After all this time? She felt like she needed a second to take that in.
"Excuse me, please," she said, heading to the bathroom. Luckily, it was empty. She looked in the mirror and all she saw in her eyes was regret. A few tears clouded her vision. Before she could really burst into crying, she heard the door open and saw the blonde coming in.
"Look, I didn't mean to…," she started but Callie didn't hear her anymore because all she could think of was the burning desire to erase the past and start clean with Arizona. Even after several ways they tried to fix each other have failed, Callie didn't care. She didn't care that they failed and she didn't want to think about that. She wanted her. She turned around and pushed Arizona against the door, kissing her fiercely and surely.
Arizona parted from Callie's lips, looking into her gorgeous eyes and smiling at her. "Callie, I-"she started, but got interrupted.
"I don't know what this means. All I know right now is that I want to take you home." Callie smiled. "Will you let me take you home?" She extended her hand and Arizona took it happily. They took a cab to Arizona's home and on the way, Arizona remembered a rather crucial fact.
"I forgot to mention that I'm now living with Andrew."
"The intern? Are you for serious?" Callie asked with a mix of surprise and amusement.
"I am. I needed someone to help me share the payments. No one else wanted it."
"Well, we're going to have to work something out with him, because I want to live with you," she smiled.
Arizona smiled, but inside she really hoped this was not the tequila and breakup talking, because she really wanted to have Callie again. Once they arrived in front of her home she paid the taxi driver and they entered her home. Fortunately, Andrew was on-call. She leaded Callie to her bedroom, hand in hand.
As they entered the bedroom, Callie noticed a picture that showed the two of them holding Sofia on her nightstand.
"You kept this here all along? You see it every day?" Callie asked in surprise.
"That's my little girl. Besides, you're not bad to look at," said Arizona smiling. But then she frowned, saying, "Speaking of which, where is my little girl?"
"Oh relax, she's at Meredith's. She offered to take her when we landed," Callie said as she unzipped Arizona's jacket.
"Oh. Was she confused when you boarded the plane or upset?"
"No, she was okay," Callie said, as she took her shirt off, then Arizona's.
"That's good. And-"
"Will you let me do my job? Believe me, I've been dreaming of this for too long now," she told her.
"Well there I can't disagree," Arizona said, kissing her.
"So we're on the same page then," Callie said, as she pushed her on the bed.
After having perhaps the best sex both of them had in more than a year, the two women were laying under the covers. They both had this desire for each other; desire to get to feel each other again. It never really died. It just lay at the bottom of their thoughts, waiting to be discovered again.
Callie propped her elbow on the pillow, holding her face in one hand. She looked at Arizona and once she met her gaze, she smiled and kissed her.
"Do you still love me?" Callie asked, not breaking their eye contact.
"Calliope," Arizona started. "I never really stopped loving you. Through all the bad things we've been through, the cheating and the lawsuit and the divorce, I never stopped. I would look at you and I would see all the things I was standing to lose. All the things I've ever loved about you, I was going to lose. I hated that thought," Arizona said, seeing the tears in Callie's eyes.
"While I was in New York, all I could think about was how badly I wanted to come home. I stopped seeing you with our daughter, I stopped seeing you at the end of the hall and I couldn't stand it. I realized how badly I wanted to see that again." Arizona was smiling, also shedding tears. "Arizona, I'm still in love with you." This time Arizona kissed her even harder, pushing her onto the mattress. She laid her head against Callie's chest, against her heart and listened to the fast heartbeats. As the minutes past and they stood in a comforting silence, her heartbeats went back to normal. As would their lives from that night on.
