"What happened to perfect
What happened to us
We used to be worth it
We never gave up
It wasn't on purpose
But it hurts like it was
Nobody deserves this
What happened to perfect"

"What happened to us?" Callie let the words come out of her mouth in an inquisitive tone, her eyes staring at the almost naked dandelion Sofia had brought her some time before as her fingers absentmindedly played with the flower.

She had hesitated before making that question, she had told herself it was not the moment for that – if there would ever be a moment for that -, she had tried to convince herself that it was just an unfortunate idea to bring any unstable topic into discussion now that she and Arizona had just started to be fine again. However, watching little Sofia sleeping soundly on the grass after their picnic had made her feel somewhat nostalgic, homesick and undeniably lost.

It had felt good to be there, to have their little girl smiling and playing cheerfully, to watch as Arizona clumsily chased after the tiny brunette who insisted on hiding from her mother behind the trees, to hear their genuine laughter – the kind of laughter that could make anyone smile just by listening to that warm, cozy and homely sound. It had felt better than good and for that she couldn't help but wonder why and how she had let things get so out of control, how she could have almost ruined that for good.

She could feel Arizona's eyes on her as she looked up to the sky, her pupils meeting the bright sun that was so rarely seen in Seattle. She knew the blonde woman hadn't gotten over the custody battle, she knew that no matter how much Arizona smiled at her and tried to make jokes and be friendly whenever she was around she wasn't over it. She was hurting, and Callie could see that very clearly.

Callie finally let her eyes fall on the blonde figure sitting next to her on the dry glass – her golden strands were falling over her ocean blue eyes that were fixed in Calliope's face. Arizona's expression didn't change for almost a second as she adjusted to the question that had been thrown at her and the sore look on her ex-wife's face. She had somewhat of a frown, barely noticeable because of the sun touching her pale skin, and her mouth was half open in a way Callie knew well – in a way that said she didn't know exactly what to say or do, that said she was baffled and terrified.

After a brief moment, though, Arizona's facial expression consciously changed as she took a deep breath and tried to smile. Callie missed her smile most of all and for that reason, and for knowing every single way in which Arizona's lips moved to create a smile, she knew exactly how fake the smile her ex-wife was exhibiting was. The smile displayed on the blonde's lips was empty, lifeless, and void – her eyes looked dead even with the sun shining on them and showing just how blue they were. The smile Callie loved and missed was shiny, brilliant, reinvigorating and somewhat magical.

"What are you talking about?" Arizona finally replied, trying to make it sound like she didn't know exactly what the brunette had questioned her about.

She had raised an eyebrow, her face assuming a rather serious tone as she tried her best to not look directly at the brunette sitting near her.

"Us. I'm talking about us, Arizona." the brunette replied in a painful tone as she shook her head to fight against the insistent urge to break down into tears. "How did we end up here? How is it that I put us in this position?"

"Callie..." Arizona tried to stop her from continuing, her voice starting to become shaky and her eyes instinctively closing as she tried to contain the amount of pain that was released at the sound of the brunette's words.

Arizona had been trying to let things go, she had been trying to feel comfortable around Callie again, and she had been working hard to make sure nothing interfered in their so wanted friendship. However, she couldn't help feeling exposed in that moment – she was completely naked around her ex-wife and there was nothing she could do to change that -, and she couldn't help but feeling betrayed by the woman's question – it had almost felt like there was a pinch of cruelty in questioning her about that when she was painfully aware of the answer.

She opened her mouth again as her eyes instinctively wandered the opposite direction of Callie's figure, in a nearly reflective way – her body was almost physically protecting her from the pain of looking at the woman she once loved more than anything.

"I think maybe I should go," she uttered the words slowly, nodding her head at the sound of her own voice as she tried to escape that situation she found herself in. "I-"

"Arizona, don't." Callie contested Arizona's clear decision to leave. "Don't leave. I just want to talk. I just want to understand how-"

"How things got so messed up?" the blonde figure shot back at Callie in a harsh manner, her blue eyes suddenly looking straight into the brown ones staring at her with a choleric flame.

She was enraged for a second, her facial expression assuming a perplexed tone that was almost accusative- she hadn't given Calliope any angry words until then, she had been the one to propose an agreement, she had been the one to sacrifice her own well-being for the sake of a sunk relationship, she had been nothing but gracious and what she had gotten back was pain, and upsetting questions such as the one the orthopedic surgeon had just pronounced.

"Here's how things got so messed up Callie:" she proceeded, lowering her voice as much as she could without losing the incensed tone she had and pointing a finger at her ex-wife for the first time since the trial. "you met someone! You got over me and you met someone! Which was fine! I mean,"

Arizona took a deep breath as she tried to regain composure and shook her head in complete disbelief – she just couldn't believe she was saying what she was, and she couldn't believe Callie was putting her in that position. She glanced at the brunette for a second, blinking a couple of times before taking another deep breath in order to continue her speech.

"You found someone. And you learned to love again." she resumed in a calmer tone. "And I was happy for you, Callie, I was. But you just figured, in your spoiled world where nothing is ever denied to freaking Calliope Torres, that you could replace your family. I was expendable in anyway, at least to you. Because, of course, I didn't give birth to Sofia so why not just give her a new mom and leave town without ever looking back?"

Callie stared at Arizona for a minute, unable to find any words of reply or to catch a breath. She had asked for it – she knew Arizona was on the edge and she still pushed her. Hearing those words had left her speechless, breathless, helpless, and she glanced at their beautiful daughter who was still soundly asleep despite the external conflict. She had caused this. She had ruined everything and she just couldn't quite understand how she had let herself do that – looking back at the past year she couldn't explain a single one of her actions and reactions. Having Arizona say she was spoiled wasn't news – she had heard that before, many times, in their old arguments that seemed to be so far in the past that she had to make an effort to fully recall – but actually recognizing she had been wrong and that she had no justification was something she didn't know how to deal with.

Arizona closed her eyes once again and shook her head as she released a baffled sigh, her hands moving to her face as she hid behind her palms for a moment, before she let her fingers tangle inside her blonde strands in a completely resigned motion.

"And you know what's worse?" the blonde inquired, her eyes looking up in an attempt to avoid the tears and her tongue going through her lips before she bit them. "The worst thing is that I never...I would have never done that to you. The worst thing is that I only ever wanted the best for you, and I loved...actually, I love you. That's what's worse. I love you, Callie. I'm not particularly in love with you, I'm not crying in the bathroom, I'm not depressed over our divorce. But I love you, because a love like that it doesn't just go away. At least that's what I thought."

Callie looked at her ex-wife with an undeniably shocked expression, her face assuming an inquisitive frown and her mouth being left open in complete perplexity.

"Arizona, I-" she tried to speak, the words coming out in a tone that was too low, too surprised, too clueless – just not enough, Arizona thought.

"I let you go, Callie, I let you be free, I let you be happy with whoever you think you wanna be happy with, but I always thought that there was some sort of...I don't know? Remaining love of some kind that was expressed in form of respect and... friendliness. We had a good relationship. We respected each other. We used to." Arizona stated, a sadly ironic giggle coming out of her mouth as she contemplated the absurdity of her previous beliefs considering their current situation. "But then I realized that not only you don't love me at all, but you do not respect me. I am nothing to you."

Callie stared at Arizona for a moment, her mind spinning as she tried to process the meaning of every word her ex-wife had just uttered in a raging moment. She wanted to deny the fetal surgeon's affirmation, she wanted to say that she did respect her, that the woman did mean something to her, that she wasn't nothing – how could she ever be nothing? - but no words came out of her mouth as she realized she had no business saying anything. She wanted to explain everything and make things okay but she had no idea how to justify her own actions, how to explain that she did respect Arizona, but still she had acted like the blonde surgeon meant absolutely nothing to her when she had tried to publicly shame her in front of a judge. There was nothing to explain, there were no justifications, no excuses, nothing that was quite enough to clear things, to make them understandable.

Arizona was about to say something, about to break the silence to say some more, or to apologize for what she had said, even if she didn't have to – Callie knew her ex-wife well enough to understand that Arizona was reserved, and she needed to process her feelings alone, but when she let her feelings out she would explode in such way that was unforgettable, using sharp words that knew exactly where to cut; she also knew that, consequently, Arizona regretted exploding most of the time. However, both of them felt Sofia move between them, her expression assuming a painful look due to the bright sun touching her face.

The blonde mother moved first, her fingers instinctively touching the little girl's face in a gentle, but waking manner. Sofia almost immediately opened her eyes, her brown globes encountering a pair of blue eyes smiling at her, and yawned in a childlike way making Arizona curve her lips into a big smile – her baby girl was growing up, but somehow she could still see the sleepy baby they woke up every day to take to daycare whenever she observed Sofia waking up.

"Hey there, big girl." she said, her fingers stroking Sofia's hair as she spoke in a singsong voice. "You look like you've had a super good nap."

The kid smiled, her hands moving to her eyes as she rubbed them. Arizona took a quick glance at Callie, who was stroking Sofia's tiny arm with a pensive expression. Their eyes met again for a minimal second, and Arizona tried her best to look at Callie the same way she had been doing up until the moment the brunette asked her about them – the look she had been working on every day whenever they had to interact, a friendly look.

Arizona didn't want to be at odds with Callie. In fact, there was nothing more the fetal surgeon wanted than to be fine and in peace – she was tired, she didn't think she could argue anymore, she didn't think she had the power to fight anymore. - but it was also a fact that the orthopedic surgeon kept making it harder and harder for them to find a safe ground.

Callie stared back for some time, her eyes trying to speak for her as she gave the blonde woman an apologetic look, a resigned expression of someone who didn't know how to say sorry, but desperately wanting to.

"Mommy," Sofia called Callie and sat down to grab the brunette's chin. She then turned to Arizona and, with her free hand, grabbed the woman's chin as well. "Mamma. I love you."

The women smiled, both of them. Sofia was happy, they could see she had a lighter expression now, her words were once again childish and playful, and that made them happy, it meant that somehow, even with the situation they had just experienced, they were doing a better job now at keeping things sane and friendly around the little girl that needed them so much.

"And I," Callie finally let her voice come out of her mouth, stretching her arms and wrapping them around the little girl as she pulled her close. Sofia wrapped an arm around Callie's neck and laughed, never letting go of Arizona's touch. "I love you so much, little goose."

Sofia's eyes turned to Arizona's observing expression, her own face almost interrogating the blonde woman, as if asking if she wasn't going to respond to the declaration of love she had just uttered.

"I love you too, big girl." Arizona replied with a warm smile, guiding her index finger to the little girl's nose and touching it very gently. "I super duper love you."