Nothing says romance more than heartfelt confessions

- Calliope Hastings Writing Workshop Notes

"Don't ask," Arizona repeated.

"You don't want to know what I believed." She swung around to stare out at the garden so that she didn't have to see the look in Callie's eyes as she realized the truth — that Arizona thought she had gotten rid of their unborn baby.

Callie's hands flew to her mouth as she almost choked at the thought.

"Arizo...I will never.." Callie could hardly form any words.

"It was all a lie. A filthy, stinking, rotten lie and I believed it." Arizona rubbed at her face as if to wipe away the guilt. "God help me, I believed it. I suppose I have got no more than I deserved for not trusting in you."

And the elusive thought that had been bothering her before they had made love last night finally crystallized perfectly in Arizona's mind. "I mean, what was I thinking? Your parents couldn't bully you into a divorce so why on earth did I believe that you would have surrendered on something so much bigger, so much more important?"

"Tell me, Arizona," Callie insisted. "Tell me what exactly did they said."

"Said? They didn't have to say anything." Arizona had carried the letter with her always. A warning never to love again, never to trust her heart. She reached into her jacket and from the back of her wallet she extracted the letter, turned and held it out to her.

Callie took the wretched piece of paper. It had been ripped into pieces, then stuck back together. The creases were worn with handling and it was only the tape that was holding it together. It didn't take long to read.

"Arizona — it's all been a terrible mistake. I've had an abortion. I don't want to see you ever again, Callie."

She made a small, involuntary sound as she imagined Arizona's pain... Then she looked up. "I didn't write this, Arizona, my mother did." She folded it back up into the worn creases and offered it back to her. Arizona just shook her head. "She had such an beautiful handwriting. I worked hard to copy it." Then, "If it's any consolation, trying to persuade me into an abortion was the last straw. I left with Angie and we've never been back. They've never seen Timmy."

"'Don't apologize. Don't ever apologize for your family. I'm the one who should be groveling here." Arizona insisted.

"No — " Callie lifted her chin a little. "'We both made mistakes. I should have been stronger — if I'd had the courage to tell them that I loved you instead of persuading you into a runaway wedding, if we had stood together they couldn't have parted us. But penniless writer runs off with heiress... That put you in the wrong from the word go."

"Not penniless. Far from it."

Callie shrugged, hopelessly. "Who would have believed you wanted me just for my body?"

"It's a great body, but I swear I love your mind, too..." Arizona offered a tentative smile along with her hand.

Callie took it briefly, then turned to a small desk. "My mind isn't that great. I doubted you too, when I should have believed." She opened a drawer, stared for a moment at the check for one hundred thousand pounds bearing a cashier's stamp: Paid in full. She picked it up, turned and gave it to Arizona.

"I have never seen this before." Arizona looked up. "It's made out to me but — "

"Lies," Callie said. "They did it to both of us. My father laughed when he gave it to me. He said you were cheap, that he would have paid five times that amount to prove to me what kind of woman you were."

"What kind of woman do you believe I am, Callie?" Arizona laid her hand against Callie's cheek, her eyes soft as melted toffee.

It felt so perfect perfect, as if she'd spent the last four years holding her breath, waiting for this moment. And Callie leaned into Arizona, rubbing her face against her palm. "You're like most women, Arizona," she murmured. "A long way from perfect. But then perfect would be tough to live with. You're a lot better than most." Callie turned and tenderly kissed Arizona's hand and looked up at her. "The only woman in the world I have ever loved."

Then, with her voice straining through a throat thick with tears, Callie continued, "This is where you get to kiss me," she prompted, sliding her hand into Arizona's hair, tangling it in her fingers to draw her closer to her. "And the orchestra plays the violins."

Arizona's smile was slow, but her eyes were heating her from the inside out. "To tell you the truth, Callie, I wasn't planning on an audience for this next bit." Then, with her mouth an inch from Callie's, she stopped. "No, wait."

"I've been waiting four years..."

"There's one more thing I don't understand. Who the devil's Mark? And what were you doing driving his Porsche?"

Callie groaned and leaned against her shoulder. "Thanks a lot, Arizona. You've just ruined the perfect moment by reminding me that I've got to confess to my publisher that his car is a wreck."

"Your publisher? That is serious." Then Arizona grinned. "Don't worry about it, sweetheart. I'll get it fixed, I'll even tell him that it wasn't your fault — "

"It wasn't..." Callie began, but Arizona pulled her close, stopped her protest with the most tender of kisses.

And then, once she had Callie's undivided attention, Arizona murmured, "Now cue the violins."

"Momma?"

Arizona jerked awake, thought for a moment she had been dreaming. Then she saw Timmy standing beside the bed peering anxiously at her in pre-dawn light.

"What is it, Timmy? Does your arm hurt?"

"No. I just wanted to make sure you were still here."

Not a dream. This small anxious little boy with his hair tousled from sleep, his arm in a sling, is her son, the child she thought forever lost.

"I'm home, Timothy," she said. "I'm not going anywhere without you ever again."

Arizona lifted the cover and Timmy needed no encouragement to scramble into bed beside her, his anxious frown immediately transformed into a wide grin.

"Do you know any stories?"

"A few," Arizona said, trying to think of something a four year old would enjoy.

At her back a very naked Callie moved closer to nuzzle Arizona's neck. "Once upon a time..." she prompted, propping herself up on her elbow, so that the three of them were all together, a real family. Arizona doubted that this was what her publisher had in mind when she'd advised getting in touch with her feminine side. But it worked for her and her own grin must have set some kind of record.

"Okay, here goes," Arizona said. "Once upon a time..."

AN - So this is it. SS will have an update by the weekend. I have few more story ideas in mind. Let me no if you guys want another sweet edition or a scandalous one.

P.S how was this one?

AN - Also, I was pretty clear from the start about the length of this fic. Apologies if this doesn't meets your expectations.