Seeing Arizona show up at her door wasn't how Callie pictured the night going, but she had always been good at improvising, so she was rolling with it. Besides, buying the blonde coffee and wearing her necklace had been playing with fire, and this was definitely a possibility.

Her heart was pounding, and she could hear the drumbeat of it ringing in her ears. Arizona moved past her, and Callie quietly shut the door behind her. A small puddle had formed on the floor, and the other woman was slightly shivering.

Callie slipped into her room and returned a moment later with a towel, extending it forward. "You know, umbrellas do exist."

Arizona grasped the fabric, her fingers brushing against Callie's. There was the slightest bit of electricity that shivered down her nerves, and the tingle remained as the blonde started drying her hair. "I didn't quite think that crossing the street would result in getting this soaked."

"That's Seattle for you."

"I guess that I'm still adjusting." Silence fell between them, but a heaviness hung in the air. Both of them knew what conversation was about to happen, but neither were quite prepared. "Can I sit down?" she asked as she shrugged her coat off.

Callie nodded, and in perfect synchronization, they sunk down in opposite chairs. She was definitely nervous, even though a conversation like this was exactly what she wanted. Still, it wasn't every day that she talked to her long lost love about how everything went wrong between them when it should have been nothing but right.

She anxiously drummed her fingers on her knee as she stared at the blue gaze that was now locked with hers. Arizona's eyes were intense and full of infinite depth, but they also held a certain insecurity that told Callie that the woman before her was just as timid about this moment as she was.

"Where would you like to start?"

Arizona sighed before rubbing her brow. "Honestly...I had this entire speech prepared for you and all the confidence in the world...but now that I'm here, I don't want to say any of it."

Callie tilted her head to the side. "Then what do you want to say, Arizona?"

She took a deep breath, and her intense blue eyes brightened. "Before we figure out where we stand or anything like that, I just feel the need to tell you that I have fucking missed you so much."

Hearing those words stirred feelings within Callie that she had long abandoned. She had always hoped and prayed that her love was somewhere in the world trying to come back to her. She had missed Arizona with her whole heart and soul, and hearing that reciprocated was everything she hadn't known she had wanted.

"I've missed you too. More than I thought was physically possible."

Arizona slowly exhaled as she shook her head. "It was never my intention to leave you. If things had gone right, then we would still be together." Callie gave the smallest of smiles. She couldn't agree with that more. If things had gone according to plan, they wouldn't have spent a second of their lives apart. But...clearly none of those dreams had come true.

"So," she started, her voice cautious as she leaned forward, "tell me what went wrong."

The blonde woman wrung her hands together, her gaze unconsciously flicking towards her leg, unmissed by Callie. Since she had seen the prosthetic, she had constantly wondered what exactly had happened to make Arizona an amputee. And, she guessed that it played a significant in their separation as young adults.

Arizona was silent for an extended moment. Callie didn't push her to talk, and she simply trusted that the tale would begin whenever she was ready. This was nowhere near an easy conversation, and one that they had anxiously been building up to, so there was no rush. She would stay up all night listening to the blonde talk if that is what it took.

"We were in an accident," she began. She rubbed her upper left thigh with her knuckles, and Callie guessed that she was attempting to ground herself. "Tim picked me up from the airport that day. The day we both left for our Christmas vacations. We were just talking and driving home, and out of nowhere, we were hit by a drunk driver. I blacked out pretty fast, so I don't remember anything, which I'm grateful for. But...my parents told me that our car flipped four times and we landed in a ditch upside down. That's how they found us."

Callie felt herself holding her breath, barely able to picture this crash in her mind. She didn't even want to think about Arizona going through something like this. She didn't want to interrupt, but she had to ask, even if she couldn't properly formulate the words. "Is that how...your leg...?" Callie inquired, not quite wanting to say it out loud.

Arizona gave a short nod as her palm laid flat against her thigh. "Apparently it was crushed pretty bad by the dashboard. They tried to repair it, but something went wrong in surgery, and they had to take it. When I finally did wake up, it was gone, and I had no choice about it. I never would have opted for amputation if they had asked me."

"I've seen injuries like that. They are brutal. And even if you had kept it, your leg would have never been the same. I'm so sorry for that. But, if it was your leg versus your life, I would have made the same choice."

"I've adjusted to it now. But, God, I was so angry. I mean, I didn't feel like a complete person. And I felt like I had no say in whether or not I kept my leg, even though I'm the one that has to live with it. I'm the one who's life completely changed with one cut of a scalpel." Arizona locked her jaw, and Callie could see a glimmer of anger cross her face. This made her mad, as it should, but Callie couldn't help but think that this wasn't the only reason that the blonde disappeared.

"It was more than just your leg, wasn't it?" she quietly suggested, prompting Arizona to open up further.

Cerulean eyes instantly filled with moisture, and a single tear rolled down a pale cheek. "Timmy died. He held on for a few days, but he didn't make it. I woke up after the accident without my brother or my leg and those losses are enough to fucking break a person." Arizona started wiping at her face, as the tears were steadily rolling. "God, why am I even crying? I got over all of this."

"I don't think that's something that anyone expects you to fully get over." Callie's voice shook as she spoke, as her heart hurt for Arizona. She could feel her pain and misery, and she wished that the blonde had never had to feel those tremendous hardships.

"I just...losing Tim was so hard. Like, he was in the military so it was always something that I was prepared for, but I never expected that he'd be taken away by someone who chose to get behind the wheel even when they were wasted. I have so much I still want to say to him and to experience with him, and I feel so robbed. He was taken from me and it was so unfair." Arizona's lip quivered as she ran her fingers through her damp hair. She slowly played with a strand, something she had always done when she was anxious or upset.

"I'm so sorry, Arizona," Callie told her. "I wish I could say more than that. I wish I could take that pain away."

Arizona's gaze met hers. "For years I wished that it would all go away. Those were some of the darkest times I've ever experienced. But, despite all of that...it's made me who I am. And I might as well embrace that."

They were each quiet, and the silence draped over them like a tablecloth. Callie had a lot on her mind, and she guessed that Arizona felt the same. While this conversation was enlightening, Callie still had so many questions. Mainly, even though Arizona was experiencing gruesome trials, why hadn't she reached out? Why hadn't she said something, anything?

Callie took a deep breath, gathering her courage. "Arizona...I can't imagine the heartbreak that you went through. But, I do have to ask you one thing, one thing that I sill don't fully understand."

"Ask away."

"Why did you tell me that you loved me only to completely disappear?"

Arizona pinched her brow and sighed. "I never meant to hurt you. I know that I did, and I am unbelievably sorry about that. Back then, when everything was crumbling around me, I was trying to spare you from sharing in my misery. I wanted to protect you."

"Protect me from what?" Callie questioned.

There was a notable pause. "Me. I wanted to protect you from me."

Callie hung on Arizona's words, slowly processing them. As she did, she felt anger bubble up inside of her. She didn't need protection. She could make her own choices about how she wanted to live her life, and what she submitted herself to. She would have gladly held Arizona's hand through it all, because she loved her that much. Saything they were soulmates meant that she was fully committed through the good and the bad. And, while she could understand where Arizona was coming from, she wished that the blonde had trusted and loved her enough to not push her away when things broke to pieces.

"I want you, Arizona. All of you. I don't need to be protected from you, and I never have. I wish you would have let me in instead of pushing me away," she told her, her words full of emotion.

"I pushed you away because I didn't want you to see me suffering like that."

Callie crossed her arms. "Being in love means that you see someone throughout their highs and their lows."

"It also means doing whatever you can to keep them from getting hurt," Arizona retorted.

"Not if that means pushing them away entirely."

"I was dying inside, Callie, and I didn't want you to see that. I will not apologize for that," she shot back.

"I could have helped you, Arizona!"

She rose to her feet with clenched fists. "Don't you think I know that, Calliope? Don't you think I wanted you there for me? I wanted to die, and I didn't want you to feel that. I tried to kill myself, and I didn't want you to see that!"

The blonde's stance was strong, but at the same time, Callie saw something crumble. It was as if all of Arizona's walls had disinigrated, leaving a woman who wanted to share every part of her soul. There was a shift in the air, and Callie was certain that Arizona was about to reveal her deepest and darkest depths.

Callie fell silent, her eyes wide. She was shaken to her core at the thought that Arizona almost wasn't standing before her now. "No," she murmured, barely able to comprehend this information.

Arizona relaxed and dropped her chin, her eyes staring at the ground. "After Tim died and I lost my leg, I hurt more than I could bear. I cried and screamed and tried everything I could to feel anything except that agony. Nothing worked, and I didn't think I could stop it. So, I decided to end things. I decided to take my life into my own hands and cease that suffering."

"Stop it," Callie told her with a shake of her head. "Don't tell me any more."

She continued. "As soon as my parents took me home, I raided all the medicine cabinets. They gave me hard stuff for my leg, so I had what I needed. I took everything without any hesitation."

"Arizona, stop."

"My mother found me, lying there on my bedroom floor, surrounded by pills and holding my note. She called an ambulance, but my dad had to do CPR for three minutes until I started coming back. They thought I was dead, and I almost was. I wished they hadn't found me in time."

Callie's hands covered her ears, and she squeezed her eyes shut as if to block out everything that was being said. "Please, stop!"

"I almost died, Calliope. Do you really wish that you had been there to see that? Do you think that that would have been better than me just disappearing?"

"Shut up!" Callie yelled as she flew to her feet. "Shut up, shut up, shut up!"

"You may not agree with the choice I made, but I can't change a thing. And I wouldn't. I still believe that I protected you, and I will stand by that, dammit."

Her voice shook. "It is not your place to decide what I can or cannot handle and deal with. I chose you, and you never gave me a chance to prove that. It would have been miserable, but I would have been there for you. I would have held your hand and told you I loved you and done whatever you needed. You just decided that we were over, and you gave me no fucking say." She could feel anger and hurt racing through her veins, about to explode. "You said that you were devastated about your leg. You said that you were so hurt that you had no choice about them taking it. I'm sorry for that, and I wish you could have used your voice. But, you know what? I know exactly how you felt. Because while you were laying in a hospital bed agonizing over why you weren't allowed to decide if they cut your leg off, I was home, sobbing into my pillow, not given the choice over whether or not you were cutting me out of your life."

Callie inched forward, their faces closer than they had been in thirteen years. Tension hung between them as they each vented about the frustrations that they had kept bottled inside. Rage flickered in each of their orbs, but that fire also contained passion, dedication, hurt, confusion, and so much love.

"I'm sorry you feel that way. I truly am. But what's done is done."

"No, it's not. Because you still didn't come back. Once you healed, you still didn't come back. Why not?"

Arizona looked up at the ceiling. "Because...I was terrified. I knew that I had ruined things between us, and I was afraid of that. I was scared that we were over for good, and it was almost easier not knowing than to be crushed."

Callie could feel goosebumps rise across her skin and the tips of her fingers tingled. She felt like they were magnets being pulled towards one another uncontrollably. Arguing had only just ignited something within each of them, and it showed how much both woman still cared for each other. With every second, Callie felt more and more certain that her very soul was screaming to be with Arizona, and she no longer wished to resist that urge.

"We aren't over. I don't think that we ever were, and I don't believe that we ever will be." Once her words slipped past her lips, Callie closed the distance between them, both physically and emotionally.

Her hands cupped Arizona's cheeks, pulling her closer so their lips could mold together. The kiss was stiff at first, as each of them felt the thirteen years that had passed between them. But, after a moment, they each gave a sigh of relief, as if their bodies were remembering one another. It felt like coming home.

Callie dove in, tasting the woman that she had always loved. There was something new, but her sweetness was exactly the same. God, she had missed this.

Arizona's fingers roughly grasped Callie's shirt, yanking hard so their torsos were glued together. Callie cupped the back of a golden head, locking it in place as she poured every emotion she felt into kissing the woman she knew was her soulmate. There was a certain familiarity as their lips connected, as if they had been transported back to the very first time they had kissed. But, there was so many new sensations, and it revealed a longing and eagerness to be together. This moment was secretly what they each had been aching for since the moment they had seen each other in the bar bathroom.

They separated, and Callie nuzzled their noses together before her eyes flicked open. Chocolate orbs locked with cereulean, and the two women held their gaze with one another. Callie could have stared at Arizona forever.

Hands dropped from her waist, and Callie feared that the moment they had shared would cease, and reality would come rushing back. Instead, pale palms slithered up her body until Arizona's thumb started to stroke Callie's cheek, wiping away tears that she hadn't even realized were starting to fall.

"Don't cry, Calliope" the blonde murmured, her breath tickling against Callie's already plump and swollen lips.

"I love you so much. And I've never stopped. I don't think I could ever stop loving you, Arizona." Her voice cracked, and she leaned forward until their foreheads touched. She felt so much intimacy between them, and she had been craving this for thirteen years. "I'm so sorry I pushed you away. I should have given you a chance."

"Shhh," Arizona breathed, "don't apologize. You have nothing to be sorry for."

"No, let me say it. Please." Callie took a deep breath, her hands caressing the porcelain skin she adored. "Before I met you, I was drowning. And every moment with you felt like coming up for fresh air. It was addicting. And I've missed it so much." Arizona's eyes fell, but Callie tilted her chin up so she was looking at her once more. "Having you back has brought up so many feelings, and it was easier to be angry than heartbroken. But, I felt alive when you came back, and that was terrifying. I think I've just been scared to really breathe again. But I would always choose that instead of drowning without you."

Arizona's fingers slipped through Callie's hair, holding her close. Their lips were barely a centimeter apart, and yet, that was too much space for the brunette. Before she even had a chance to close the gap between them, Arizona plunged forward, cementing their lips together in another charged and passionate kiss.

"If you give me the chance, I'll never let you drown again." Arizona whispered into their kiss. "You were my first love, Calliope, and throughout my whole life, there's never been anyone else that I have wanted or needed. Only you, Calliope." She kissed her hard and intensely. "It's always been only you."

Callie deepened their kiss, drawing a pale pink lip between her teeth. She sucked on it hard, reminding herself of the time when they used to sloppily and greedily makeout in their dorm rooms. They had been young and wild, but Callie knew that those people existed within them somewhere.

It was Arizona who reciprocated by pushing Callie back until they sank into the couch in a perfectly choreographed move. Their hands freely roamed, exploring bodies that they had once fully memorized, now just to find new and changed aspects. Arizona's weight on her was familiar and comforting, and Callie let out a low and content moan. One of her hands twisted into golden curls, hair still damp from the rain, while the other traveled down Arizona's spine and towards her thigh. She was so wrapped up in the moment that she barely registered that the flesh beneath her fingers turned to a hard plastic.

Arizona froze, and her hand shot out to clasp Callie's wrist. Her whole body went tense with a sharp intake of air.

Callie instantly recognized her mistake, and she pulled away from their kiss. "I'm so sorry. I wasn't thinking, and I shouldn't have touched it."

The blonde released her grip, only to slip her hand into the Latina's. "It's okay. It's just...I don't like people to touch it or to see it. It's just proof that I'm broken, and I hate that."

"I once loved every inch of you. And I would like the opportunity to relearn the body of the woman I love. Scars and all," she stated. She leaned up and slowly kissed Arizona. "And, you are so, so far from broken. You are extraordinary."

They were drawn back together, mouths colliding over and over as a way to express the eagerness they held for one another. Now that they were reunited, and clearly still fully in love with one another, it was as if they couldn't spend a single second without expressing the million emotions coursing through their bodies.

Thirteen years was far too long to be apart. But, it was like that no longer mattered as much. Here and now they were together, and it truly made Callie's heart soar.

She was so caught up in Arizona that she didn't register the sound of her front door opening. She certainly did hear the exclamation that almost immediately followed.

"Holy shit!"

Her and Arizona quickly shot up and fumbled out of their compromising position, only to see Meredith and Cristina standing before them with gaping expressions.

Before Callie had a chance to explain anything, Cristina turned to Meredith. "You owe me twenty bucks!"

I've been building up to this chapter for a while, and I hope it didn't disappoint! Don't worry, I still have much more planned for these two. This is just the beginning.

Thank you so much for reading! I'm amazed every day by the response to this story. I've been reminded of my love and passion for writing fanfiction, and that is the best gift I could have asked for. I hope you all will continue on this journey with me!

Please let me know what you think!