SHONDA & ABC OWN IT ALL

ARIZONA'S POV

I'll have to admit, Eliza and I might be moving forward in our relationship quicker than expected, but to be honest, I don't care. How insane would I be to turn down anything and everything Eliza has to offer? Yeah, that's right. Insanely, insane. I could see in Eliza's eyes the worry behind her asking me to be her girlfriend. I don't blame her. I'm giving her all the reasons right now to be worried that, one of these days, I'm going to push her away by accusing her of picking up and leaving me behind. Since she's returned, she hasn't given me any reason to believe she doesn't want to be here, so that's why I told her I love her.

I love Eliza Minnick. I love how happy she makes me feel and I love how she says all the right things at the right times and says it with complete honesty. Right now, there's nothing I want more than to be her girlfriend and show her that she means more to me than I convey.

When I told her I love her, there was no hesitation behind it. I've loved Eliza way before she left. Sure, I didn't tell her, but now I'm glad I kept it to myself until now because it obviously wasn't the right time and we clearly weren't ready. If I told her I loved her and she left the way she did, I would have been more hurt than I was. Hurt, upset, mad, angry.. every terrible feeling in the world, I would have felt it.

"I love you too, Arizona." Eliza says, sitting next to me on the bed. "I love you, so much."

"You do?" I let out the breath I've been holding. "Oh, thank god."

"Oh, come on. You know I do." She nudges my shoulder and I fall back onto the bed. Patting the space next to me, she lays beside me and we stare at the ceiling. "I wasn't going anywhere, Arizona. I just thought I'd go downstairs and wait for you and Sof to wake up."

"A part of me knew you weren't leaving, but-"

Before I can finish she turns to me, "I know, Arizona. I know it's going to take a while for me to gain your trust back."

"I know you will though and I have no doubt about it." I turn my head and our eyes meet. "When Sofia and I were at the grocery store earlier, she told me how she knew I loved you. It was totally out of the blue when she said it. I asked her how she knew and she simply said it was because of the way I looked at you."

"The way you look at me?" She questions.

"She said the way I look at you is how I looked at Callie when we were married." I feel tears beginning to form in my eyes, but I fight them back and continue. "She went on saying that there was this sparkle that formed in my eyes whenever I looked at Callie, but it went away before we got divorced." A tear sliding down the side of my face, I lift my hand and brush it away with a finger. "Sofia said when I look at you, that sparkle comes back."

Eliza scoots her body closer to mine and turns on her side, propping herself up on her elbow. She cups my cheek with her hand and wipes a stream of tears off my cheek with her thumb.

"You're the one, Eliza. You're it for me. My walls come up and I get so worried that you're going to leave, because I wouldn't be able to handle it. I can't go through that again and especially not with you, because you're everything to me."

I'm pouring out all my emotions to Eliza right now. It just seems like the right thing to do at this point. She makes me vulnerable. I've craved her presence, her touch, and her contagious smile. Being alone with her right now, just us two in the room, I can finally let everything I've been holding in, out.

"Arizona," she says softly. "I want to be the one you and Sofia spend your time with. I want to be the one to take care of the both of you, be the one to make you both feel safe, and be the one to cuddle up with you both at the end of the day." She furrows her brows and drops her gaze. "I just wasn't sure where we stood and I didn't want to seem like I was forcing myself into your lives. I wasn't sure of it all until I brought Sofia into her room to tuck her in."

"What do you mean? You said she fell back asleep right after you tucked her in."

"She did. She fell back asleep after the second time." I shake my head and Eliza lets out a light chuckle. "I wasn't sure where we stood and I wasn't even sure if Sofia knew that me and you were a thing. Before I walked out of her room she made me promise her something." Eliza takes a deep breath and I can see her emotions getting to her, so I wait for her to finish what she has to say. "She made me promise her I wasn't going to leave."

A tear falls down Eliza's face and I bring my lips to her cheek to kiss it away. "Eliza," I give her a smile and I feel my heart slowly being pieced back together. "She made you promise that you weren't going to leave her." She looks at me with confusion. "You think she was asking for you not to leave me?" She nods her head, answering my question. "Sofia doesn't know about Bailey firing you and she has no idea you left afterwards. She made you promise her that you weren't going to walk out of her life."

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