Early May, that same day - Arizona

Arizona knows a runaway when she sees one. The matted hair, the worn out, dirty clothes. The shifting eyes filled with fear. She was a runaway once upon a time. The girl in front of her has shifted from lying down to standing, poised as if she's going to bolt. She looks exhausted, and her cheeks are hollow, but Arizona can still tell she's heartbreaker material. She's got this dark skin that's to die for, and even though her eyes are filled with fear, Arizona can tell they're the kind of eyes you lose yourself in.

"Hey, woah, I'm sorry for scaring you." Arizona says, holding her hands up in a show of innocence. She smiles faintly and hopes her face shows how sincere she is.

The girl doesn't move. Doesn't say a word. Just stares at Arizona with those deep brown eyes filled with fear. Arizona reaches into her backpack slowly, pulling out a granola bar, and tosses it in the girls direction. She doesn't know what to say, because she knows firsthand that nothing a person can say changes the fear in your heart.

"I know you're scared. I know you want to run. Trust me, I know. But I'm not going to bring anyone out here. And honestly, you look kinda rough." Arizona says softly, hoping the last part softens the girl enough to relax, even just a little.

She watches the girls expression soften, only slightly, as she stares at Arizona. Measuring her up, reading her face. Arizona knows the game. When you've spent your life getting hurt, you learn to read people really well. She must pass the test, because seconds later the girl leans over and snatches up the granola bar. She eats it at lightning speed and Arizona opts to sit on the floor. Sitting is always a lot less threatening than looming in a doorway, right?

"Well I was worried you'd think it tastes nasty, because it does. But you're not picky, I guess. I like that!" Arizona opts to joke around some more, because she's in no mood to discuss her past as an ice breaker and she doubts this girl wants to hear it.

"Thank you." The girl answers quietly, and her voice is soft and warm, despite the cautious looks she's giving.

"You're welcome." Arizona answers, flashing a dimpled grin. "I'm Arizona, by the way." She adds and she sees a hint of a small smile cross the girls face.

They sit in silence for a long while, neither of them saying anything. Arizona isn't uncomfortable, silence doesn't bother her. She gets that the girl isn't ready to talk yet.

"Callie." A small voice mutters, and Arizona's head shoots up to lock eyes with those deep brown ones. "Well, Calliope, but Callie." Callie adds, and Arizona smiles.

"Calliope, I like that. It's original." She likes the way the name rolls off her tongue. And she loves one of a kind names. She likes a name that fits a person, and Calliope fits this girl perfectly. Callie smiles and looks down at the floor at the again.

"Arizona?" Callie asks cautiously, and Arizona smiles and nods, urging her to go on. "Do you have another granola bar?"

Arizona bursts out laughing, and is joined by a small chuckle from Callie. She digs around in her bag and pulls out the lunch box she brought along for the day. She scoots closer to Callie and unzips it, pulling out a ham sandwich, strawberries and a bottle of water.

"Alright, the water and the sandwich are all yours, but I'm not giving up all those strawberries. They're my favorite. So you're just going to have to share with me."

She passes Callie the sandwich and water, and Callie smiles at her and takes it. Arizona pops a strawberry in her mouth and watches Callie take ravenous bites out of the sandwich.

"I'm a pretty awesome sandwich maker. Like, the best. So you better be enjoying that!" Arizona jokes, relieved when Callie laughs and nods.

"It's pretty good. But I know my way around a kitchen, I could show you a thing or two." She counters, raising her eyebrows in Arizona's direction.

"Where did you learn to cook?" Arizona asks, and she knows she's asked a personal question when Callie freezes and her eyes shoot down to the floor.

"Um, my mom never cooked anything, she uh, she couldn't. So I learnt, you know, for her."

Arizona doesn't answer, because she doesn't need to. She knows what it's like. Coming home to the messy house, peeling your mom off the couch or the floor. Cooking her meals and doing her laundry and trying your best to keep all the pieces together. She knows how it feels to be exhausted all the time. To go to school for an escape. To try to get homework done when you're being a mother to yourself and your parent. She knows. And there's nothing she can say to change it or fix it. It's life, it happens. So they sit there, in silence, both aware that sometimes there's nothing you can really do to help.

That night, Arizona is studying for a biology test in her room when she hears a soft knock on her door.

"Come in!" She shouts, watching as Tim enters and closes the door behind him. She smiles at him and he smiles back.

"Hey sis. Sorry to bug you, I know you've got a big test on Monday. I just wanted to say sorry for not being able to come out to the treehouse today." He looked genuinely disappointed in himself for not being there with her this morning, and Arizona closed her book and sat up, patting the bed and motioning to her brother to sit.

"Tim, it's not a big deal. You have a girlfriend. And it was her birthday celebration. I would have kicked your ass if you'd ignored your girlfriend on her birthday just to hang out with your dorky little sister."

Tim smiles and nods.

"You're awesome, you know that?"

"I do know that, comes naturally."

"How was the tree house?"

Arizona is a terrible liar. Terrible is an understatement. When she lies she feels trapped, which always leads to a semi-coherent ramble.

"It...uh, yeah it's good. I ate some lunch in there, took a nap. Yep, no biggie. Nothing..like, major happened. You know, because I was alone and stuff."

Tim shoots her a look that says he's picked up on how nervous she is. Why did I promise Calliope I'd keep her a secret from Tim, it's impossible.

"Woah woah woah, what happened?"

"Nothing."

"Arizona, you are the worlds most awful liar. It's actually pathetic, you disappoint me."

"What makes you think I'm lying?" Arizona counters.

"You're all red. And you're breathing all erratic. Plus you won't look at me. Arizona, come on! It's me!"

He shoots her a look that no one could ever say no to. They have a silent battle with their eyes until Arizona throws her hands up in the air in exasperation.

"Tim!" She whines, and he smiles but continues to press.

"Did you do something bad? I won't tell Mom and Dad, just tell me!"

"Listen, I didn't do anything stupid. Something happened and I can't tell you about it yet. Please just trust me, okay? Please."

He must hear the desperation in her voice, because his face morphs into one of understanding.

"Alright, fine. For now, it's your secret. But I hope you know you can trust me."

Arizona smiles and squeezes his hand before opening her biology textbook again.

"Of course I trust you. This is just something I can't tell you yet."

Tim leaves with a nod, and once he's out of the room, Arizona sighs and closes her textbook. She goes to her door and locks it, turning off the lights. Lying back down, she lets the events of the day hit her. Spending a couple hours with Calliope has brought up a rush of emotions she'd previously pushed down. She can't get her birth mothers face out of her mind. The day she ran away, the last time she saw her mom, she'd been asleep on the couch, sleeping off her last bender. Arizona had kneeled down to the level of the couch, pushing dirty blonde hair out of her moms face. She remembered how innocent her mom had looked sleeping there in that moment. Like any other parent. She traced the outline of her moms face with her thumb, smiling through tears that fell freely from her eyes. She'd pulled a red blanket from the floor and covered her mom with it. Then she'd turned around and walked out.

She hadn't seen her mom since. Her mother had given up custody without a fight. Arizona had cooked, cleaned, played clean up to her moms addiction, and her mom hadn't even fought for her. She didn't even know where her mom was. She didn't even know if she was alive. She didn't want to be with her mom, the Robbins' were the most amazing people she'd ever met. They'd treated her like a daughter from the moment she'd arrived. She considered them her parents in every single way. Her birth mother was like a distant memory, a reminder to Arizona that despite all of her efforts, she hadn't been enough. And she was smart, she knew that her mom's addiction twisted it all up. But all the intelligence in the world couldn't help the fall in her stomach as she pictured her moms dimpled cheeks and blue eyes that matched her own.

Early May, That night - Callie

Arizona left with promises of returning with more food the next day, leaving Callie alone to her thoughts. She hadn't expected to be found. In fact, she'd expected to go a good year before she saw another person again. When that door had been thrown open, she'd gone straight into flight mode, wanting to bolt. But there was something about this girl, with the light skin and kind, blue eyes that kept her rooted in her spot. Something about the way she said "trust me", like she just knew absolutely everything Callie was feeling. She'd spent a lot of her life learning to read people. Learning to read her mom's boyfriends, learning to find threats before they struck. She looked into those blue eyes and she could see compassion, but she could also see pain. The kind of pain she knew she carried around with her. And that made her trust Arizona. Which was rare, because by nature she was not a trusting person. Arizona had done most of the talking, but it had been light banter. Nonetheless, Callie learnt that Arizona had a brother, Tim. She learnt that Arizona was adopted and that the tree house she had crashed had been built by her adoptive father. She learnt that Arizona was a year younger than her, having just turned 16 a couple months ago. Callie's was in a couple months, and she'd be seventeen. Tim, her brother, was 18, putting them all within a year of one another. Arizona had promised to keep her a secret from Tim for now, but had pointed out that eventually he'd want to come visit for traditions sake.

It had gotten dark outside. It was raining outside, but she wasn't cold. Arizona had left her with an extra coat, which she had wrapped tightly around her body. It smelt like coconut and vanilla. It was a smell that she associated with innocence and youth, but she knew without asking that Arizona was neither of those things. She could tell Arizona was kind, filled with a child-like excitement and love for the world. But beneath it, brewing just under the surface, like a storm waiting to break, she could see the madness. The pain behind bright eyes, the tiredness that came from having to work hard at being happy all the time. She willed herself to think about anything else but the blonde, but she was mesmerizing. Callie found that she wanted to know everything. Every story, every little detail. Which was insane, because she was a teenager on the run, and she'd known the girl for a total of three hours. It had been a long time since someone had called her by her real name with such kindness and softness. It had been eternity since someone had sat with her and joked with her casually. At school, everyone had avoided her. Nobody talked about it, but everyone knew why her clothes were torn and her hair was matted. The teachers always pretended like they had no idea, but she'd caught them before, looking at her with pity in their eyes. Of course, it had only driven her to study harder. She didn't want to be handed anything in life. She wanted to work for it. She wanted to be bad ass and unstoppable because she worked her ass of for it. She'd never been handed a thing in her life, and she was almost certain she never would. Some people just had to do it the hard way. Staring out the window, she wondered briefly what her mom was thinking. Would she even notice she was gone? There had been times where she'd gone months without her mother speaking to her. Either way, she figured the search wouldn't be extensive. Callie Torres wasn't someone the world would miss if she went off the grid. No one at school would wonder. No one at home would wonder. She'd spent most of her life feeling solitary in that sentiment.

Except this morning. This morning, she'd looked into Arizona's eyes and felt unbelievably safe in the way that she was certain Arizona knew exactly how that felt.