Twentythousand

"You're the only way I wanna end. For you, I'd fall all over again."

She is staring, but can she really be blamed? Besides the obvious, she's always stared at this woman. Always. Sometimes she genuinely can't help but stare and sometimes it's just a default for her. Nothing to do? Let's stare at Callie. Staring at Callie has made her feel a plethora of emotions over the years, but it has always been soothing in a way. Like a balm for her eyes. Or something less weird.

So yes, she is staring.

Because Callie, a woman who was once everything to her, is back. She is back from New York and she is sitting on Arizona's living room couch. If she's to be believed, this is the first place she came to after her flight landed nearly forty five minutes ago. So of course Arizona is staring. How can she not? This woman dragged her through the mud during a custody battle just to jet set across the world for a woman she had been with for little over a year. And now, barely eight months later, here she is.

Sitting on Arizona's living room couch.

You would stare, too. Right?

Arizona's not sure how she's supposed to be feeling right now, but for some strange reason, she's got a rather impressive case of the giggles. And she's doing a poor job concealing them. But does she really have to? This is her house and it is two fifty three in the morning. She can laugh if she wants to. And she really, really wants to, but Callie is looking fidgety as all hell, so instead she hides her smile in her mug of green tea and tries not to choke.

Callie still hasn't said what she's doing here and Arizona doesn't have to be up early, so she's in no hurry to inquire. Plus, she's afraid if she opens her mouth, all that will come out is a hysterical stream of laughter and that is certainly no way to start the inevitable conversation.

"Why are you staring at me?" Callie finally asks.

Arizona allows herself to chuckle. "Why are you here?"

Callie looks down at her own mug of tea and doesn't answer for a few long seconds. "It wasn't working out in New York."

She literally has to bite down on her tongue to reign in her mirth. Why is this so difficult? Nothing is funny. "Yes, I figured that out, but why are you here? At my house. On my couch. Drinking my tea."

"You offered me the tea," Callie points out with wide eyes, like she truly doesn't understand this line of questioning.

But Arizona knows better. "Callie."

Again, the brunette goes quiet for a long time and Arizona watches an internal battle in her eyes, half expecting her to use her apparent exhaustion as an excuse to deflect the question. But after who knows however long, Callie's eyes lift up to find hers as she takes in a deep breath. "I… I came here because I wanted… to see you." She sighs out the last few words like she's relieved to get them out.

Oh.

That isn't what she is expecting. In fact, that isn't in the realm of possible reasons that she might have predicted for her ex-wife showing up on her doorstep in the middle of the night.

"Why?" Because what else is there to ask?

"I missed you," is what she says.

She missed her. Callie missed Arizona. After moving to New York City. With her girlfriend. Who isn't Arizona.

What?

What is she supposed to do with that information?

God, why is everything with Callie so confusing and super charged?

Arizona knows she has tensed and she knows Callie can sense it, so she takes a gulp of her tea and forces herself to relax because this doesn't have to be a thing. It doesn't have to be a big deal. And it won't be. So Callie missed her? So what?

But then she glances up, right into those warm brown eyes and she sees it.

And she knows she's absolutely fucked.

Twentythousand by EXES

~Elphaba C. Snow Thropp