A/N: I know I've been gone forever. My life continues to be super chaotic, so I apologize immensely for the delay. I also apologize in advance for what an utter sap fest this chapter is.

Chapter 10

Callie glanced out into the audience, squinting against the harsh stage lights. She inconspicuously lifted her hand to block out the main light. She could just barely make out the first few rows and the boxes on either side of the audience. Scanning the faces quickly, she frowned when she realized there was not a single familiar face in the crowd. Not that she was expecting many familiar faces, just one in particular.

Sighing, she glanced to Karl Schumann, Arizona's stand-in. He was sitting, back impossibly straight, at the piano bench. His nimble fingers glided over the keys as he played his section with utmost precision. She had to admire his musicality. He was insanely talented, and try as she might, Callie could not deny that.

"I hate pianists," she grumbled to herself.

Callie counted quietly in her head as Karl neared the end of his section. She rolled her eyes, not really caring if the audience saw her. Of course he was perfectly in time. Arizona had a cute little syncopated trill that she did in that section; it always managed to make Callie's heart flutter in a similar pattern. Karl had played the notes as straight eighth notes. Sure, that's how it was technically written on the page, but Callie always thought of those black markings as mere suggestions.

Sighing, Callie raised her bow and slid it across her D string. As the index finger, wiggled against the finger board, she closed her eyes, allowing herself to focus only on the music. The audience and the lights and the other members disappeared. Even Karl Schumann and his perfectly plunked out notes slipped into the dark recesses of her mind. All that was left was her and the music. And Arizona. No matter how lost in the music she became, Arizona was always there at the forefront of her mind. With her eyes closed, she could feel her girlfriend's presence and somehow her brain had transformed Karl's piano playing into the luxurious lilt of Arizona's Stradivarius. She smiled to herself. The brain was a powerful organ.

In what felt like mere seconds, it was time for Callie to pass the proverbial baton back to Karl. As her lids blinked open, the harsh stage lights assaulted her eyes. What shocked her more, though, was the single tear that she had unknowingly shed. Apparently, though the two had cautiously reconciled, the tension between her and Arizona had taken its toll, and Callie's brain and heart decided that now would be a good time to finally feel some of that emotion.

And boy, did she feel it. By the time she and Karl were playing their last section together, Callie was pouring every ounce of fear, desperation, guilt, and disappointment into her strokes. And it felt wonderful. Music had always been a therapeutic release for Callie. Any emotion that she had been repressing was sure to come bubbling to the surface as soon as her bow met the strings. It was always cathartic, but at that moment, she was sort of wishing her catharsis was not being witnessed by hundreds of people.

She ended the final note of Prokofiev's Sonata op. 119 with an exaggerated flourish, before slumping into her cello, completely exhausted and emotionally and physically spent. She was only somewhat aware of the increasingly bright lights and someone grabbing her hand and pulling her to an upright position.

"Come on, Cal," Gallo whispered, as he held her hand tightly. She flashed him a weak smile and stood to her feet. A watery grin spread across her face as she bowed gracefully in front of the zealous crowd. They didn't seem to be nearly as disappointed that Arizona wasn't there.

After the third bow, the house lights went dim again and Gallo gestured for the audience to take a seat. Callie furrowed her brow, glancing behind Maestro Gallo, where Karl stood, looking equally perplexed. A flutter of panic bubbled up in Callie's stomach. Was this an encore? They certainly did not have time to rehearse an encore. But it was the last concert of the tour, so would the audience expect an encore?

She grew more panicked as Gallo pushed her gently to sit back down in her chair. Karl followed suit, and Callie almost laughed at how nervous he looked. Was the ever calm and impeccably poised Karl Schumann showing some weakness?

Her smirk faded as she watched with curiosity as the stagehands set up two stands and a chair on the opposite side of the stage. Shortly thereafter, a cellist and a violin took up positions behind the stands. Callie's panic quickly turned to anger. Worse than having to play an unrehearsed encore was someone else playing an encore during her show.

Gallo took a step back up to his conductor's podium, while Callie and Karl shared a look of confusion mixed with annoyance. As his baton hit the downbeat, very familiar notes began emanating from the entire orchestra, notes that brought wonderful memories flooding back. She hadn't heard Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D, since the last time she and Arizona had played it together, when Arizona had professed her love for her on stage in front of the entire audience. Though the soloists weren't nearly as good as Callie and Arizona (and how could they be after only a few hours of rehearsal?), Callie couldn't help the wide grin that took over.

Her grin grew even wider as a very familiar blonde entered stage right. She had a long cobalt satin dress on, the dress she had saved for their last performance. Her hair was swept up into an elegant twist, with two loose tendrils framing her face. Even her cast had been bedazzled.

Callie frowned slightly when Arizona didn't walk straight to her, but instead headed to where Gallo's podium was. With a gentle wave of his hands, Gallo quieted the orchestra and the soloists to a soft piano, while Arizona reached over to pick up his microphone. She turned and walked to the center of the stage, facing the crowd.

"I'm sorry I couldn't play tonight," Arizona started, waving her casted hand to the audience with a shrug. Supertitles translated her words into German at the top of the stage and, after a slight delay, the audience collectively chuckled. "As you can see, I broke my arm a week ago. I got really scared that I wouldn't be able to play again, got super pissed, and took it out on the person who deserves it the least."

Arizona paused to look over at Callie. She raised her broken arm towards Callie and smiled shyly at her still clearly confused girlfriend. Powerless to do anything else, Callie quickly jumped from her seat, laid her cello on the ground, and took Arizona's proffered hand.

"Everyone, this is my girlfriend Callie. Callie, everyone, though I guess you guys have already met," Arizona said with a giggle. The audience seemed to find her antics and bubbly personality absolutely charming. Callie couldn't even bring herself to roll her eyes.

"Callie and I have been through a lot," Arizona continued. "We started off on really rocky footing, before being unable to deny our feelings. Then after a very painful break-up, we confessed our love for each other publically and both got fired. Then there were some terribly ruined proposal attempts." The audience wasn't entirely sure whether to gasp or laugh. "And now, I don't know if I'll ever get to play again."

Callie looked down at her feet, really hoping this would start going somewhere positive.

"I used to think that the violin was the only thing I could ever truly love, but then Callie here came along and changed all of that." Callie whipped her head to look back at her girlfriend and gasped when she noticed the blonde attempting to kneel awkwardly in her gown. "Callie, a very wise man told me in Paris that you love me and I love you and none of the rest of it matters. I don't think I really understood what he meant until now. I know that we can get through anything that comes our way because we love each other."

Arizona reached behind her to pick up a small velvet box. It wasn't the 3-carat platinum ring she'd spent weeks researching and picking out only to have it stolen in Paris. It was a simple 1-carat solitary diamond, set on a white gold band. And it was perfect.

"Calliope Torres, will you help me to remember for the rest of our lives that our love is all that matters? Will you marry me?"

The crowd hushed immediately. The only sound that could be heard over the soft notes from the soloists was the creaking of chairs as several audience members sat forward on the edge of their seats, eagerly awaiting Callie's answer.

Instead of attempting to kneel in her own gown, Callie reached for Arizona's hand and brought her girlfriend up to a standing position. Cradling Arizona's face in both hands, Callie drew her in for a gentle, languid kiss.

"You didn't have to do all this," she whispered.

"After this whole trip? Yes, I did," Arizona disagreed.

"Only you could one up your public love confession," Callie laughed with a shake of her head.

Arizona cocked her head to the side, a small smile playing at the corners of her lips. "You know, you're kind of leaving me hanging here."

Callie laughed heartily before bringing Arizona in for another kiss. "Yes, yes. Of course, yes."

Arizona grinned and brought the mic back up. "She said…ja," she told them with a laugh, not that anyone needed the translation to understand what was going on. Arizona slipped the ring over Callie's left ring finger as Gallo raised his hands to indicate for the orchestra to increase their volume.

As the first movement came to a close, Arizona slipped her good hand down their sides to twine their fingers together. She lightly bumped her hip against Callie, unable to stop the giddy smile on her face.

"Guess what?" Arizona asked.

"What?"

"You're my fiancée now."

Callie laughed at her playful fiancée. "I guess the third time really is the charm."

o0o0o

"Callie, would you stop, please?" Arizona asked, beyond exasperated. Callie continued to pace in front of her, eyes boring a hole in the door.

"Why isn't he here yet? Does that mean something went wrong? Or is he just too stupid to read the x-rays. I knew we should have gone with – "

"…with the other best orthopedic surgeon in New York City?" Arizona asked sarcastically, an annoyingly sweet smile on her face.

"Excuse me for being worried that my fiancée – " Callie paused to process the fact that she got to call her that now " – may have to give up the thing she loves most in the world."

"First of all, it's the thing I love second most in the world. Secondly, I was thinking about taking a break anyway," Arizona said nonchalantly with a shrug.

"What?" Callie practically shrieked.

Arizona shrugged again. "I was just thinking that my crazy performance schedule wouldn't be that conducive to having kids."

"What?" Callie asked again, this time breathlessly.

"I'm saying that no matter what Dr. Hansen says when he comes in, I'm not sure that I want to go back to the Phil. I'm thinking maybe I want to teach a mini-Calliope how to play the violin instead."

Callie gasped softly to herself. Sure, they'd discussed having kids and they were getting married, but she hadn't really thought that Arizona would be so gung-ho about having kids so soon.

Dr. Hansen chose that moment to come waltzing through the door, x-rays in one hand and a chart in the other. "Well, Miss Robbins, it looks like the Spanish doctor did a good job and your bone is setting well. And in just a few short weeks, you'll be back in business. I, for one, am grateful. I'm a regular concert-goer and I've been a huge fan of yours. And yours," he added, turning to Callie.

Arizona laughed graciously. "Well, maybe I'll get you some comp tickets when the season starts back up." Callie frowned. Of course Arizona's statement had been too good to be true and only said because she thought she'd never be a concert violinist again. "Except that you'll have to watch some other, not as good I'm sure, violinist," Arizona finished, taking Callie's hand.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, I'm thinking of retiring from performing. I'll probably teach like Callie so that I have a more routine schedule when we have kids."

"I didn't realize you were expecting!" Dr. Hansen said excitedly.

Callie laughed. "No, not yet. My fiancée here seems to be getting a little ahead of herself."

"You can't blame her for being excited," Dr. Hansen said with a smile.

"No, I sure can't," Callie agreed, looking down at Arizona, who was grinning up at her.

"Well, I'll sure miss seeing you on that stage, but congratulations on your engagement and future family," Dr. Hansen said as he left the room to give them some privacy.

"So…" Arizona started, before hopping off the exam room bed and grabbing her purse

"So…" Callie reiterated.

"Wanna practice making a baby with me?" Arizona smiled coyly as she sashayed past Callie. Once she reached the door, she stopped and turned. She raised her right hand up and wiggled her fingers. "My more important hand still works."

"I thought you'd never ask."