The wonderful world of Grey's Anatomy and our favorite couple belong to Shonda Rhimes and ABC.
Slightly different with a new A/N at the end. The story will continue… in a way.
-All That Matters-
One horrible decision that led to unspoken words thrown in anger and accepted with disbelief had changed the fabric of their relationship.
It made one grow hard and unrelenting as the storm that raged outside.
And the other to see the truth and resolve to protect and fight for the things she loved.
They had to finally accept and admit that they had made mistakes, that they both had made their relationship toxic in its own way. But they found that although their trust in each other was broken, their love wasn't gone.
It was just bent at awkward, unstable angles.
So they rebuilt themselves slowly; individually at first, with different therapists to work through their own issues. They lived separately from each other then; across the hall so that Sofia wouldn't be too confused but close enough that they didn't feel alone.
They still needed each other. The first time as Callie ran across the hall to sit behind Arizona and support her when she couldn't control her phantom limb pain on her own after a nightmare. Then later, as Arizona walked across the hall without hesitating to hold Callie in her arms the night she had finally talked to her therapist about losing Mark.
They took baby steps together and then watched with wonder as Sofia toddled on unstable legs, her first steps across the hall to one mother and then with a giggle back to the other.
They moved back in together that night and sold Mark's apartment permanently as a testament to their recovery apart. They wouldn't be separate anymore, or hold on to a place that made that a valid excuse for one or the other.
They worked on their relationship with the help of a new marriage counselor, taking every step seriously as they rebuilt the trust they had both shattered. Promises had never been easy between them, but they made their first together to be honest. The words that they said between them weren't always easy. Sometimes they were thrown in anger, other times they were whispered in heartbreak. But they kept what they had promised and slowly the trust began to grow again.
They rose out of the ashes that they had become on that fateful night in the attending's lounge. Still themselves, but a better version that would turn to each other and not hide or run away from the ups and downs that their life was sure to throw at them.
A year after that night that everything had seemed to fall apart, Sofia was lying on Arizona's stomach playing with her necklace that lay on her chest. They had moved their rings to sit next to their matching hearts the night they decided to stay together; they had stayed in the same place throughout their recovery and were worn as a sign of their commitment to each other and the love they refused to give up on.
A few simple words out of Sofia's mouth as she slipped that ring onto her little finger made Arizona laugh and Callie smile. Rings did belong on fingers, but not theirs. That was until Callie looked across the couch and simply stated that new ones could belong.
Marry Me.
Two simple words from Callie's mouth that sealed their journey back to each other and one simple response from Arizona that faded all of the scars they had carried with them for so long.
Meant to be…
Made for each other…
Soul mates…
All words that people whispered with tears in their eyes as they married each other again on a beautiful spring day. A legal ceremony with Sofia between them, their necklaces proudly displayed on their chests and new rings on their fingers to symbolize the rebirth of their relationship.
They had weathered the storm that had nearly broken them and fought for themselves and each other.
They had screamed and cried and laughed… but through it all, they loved.
And love in the end, is all that matters.
So, for those of you that had never read this before when it was originally posted… I had a number of stories about the aftermath of the finale in progress but I just couldn't finish any of them. I happened to have my iTunes on shuffle and this just literally flowed from my fingers as I listening to Marry Me by Train.
I wasn't planning on continuing it because it was really more of a drabble that came to me in one long writing moment… which let me stress- rarely happens. But I've found myself writing a number of important moments from this story of reconciliation.
I can say that this will be different from some of the other fantastic post 9x24 stories that are out there (major kudos to Ghostwriter68 and OddCoupler222, the authors of "Choices" and "Fractured"- they've both got me hooked and are must reads). This will be a collection of brief moments from my drabble of their reconciliation, so it won't read as a play by play progressive story… I'll be quoting this original in the upcoming chapters so you understand how the little one-shots and elaborations fit as a part of the whole.
Fannye