Can True Love Be Estranged?
Author: And24Trina
Pairing: Calliope Torres/ Arizona Robbins
Rating: T
Summary: Callie and Arizona shared the love that most believe you can only experience once in a lifetime, stomped on too many times by life. Now they're divorced and living on opposite ends of the country. Can true love really be estranged, or are the two women destined to find their way back to each other?
Chapter: Epilogue
Disclaimer: Shonda created them blah, blah, blah… So, this one will be shorter but I'm hoping just as good as The Ride… Really hope you like it.
**I've scrapped and re-written this chapter more times than I'm willing to share… But this one, I think my muse is finally happy with. Really hope you guys like it…
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"Years of love, followed by heartache.
Those are the years that define me.
Those are the years that know-
love's eternity is you."
-C. Elizabeth
My dearest Calliope,
"I fell in love when you woke me up…" That line from that Ed Sheeran song kind of sums it all up for me. So many times I think of how I nearly got in my own way and missed out on the greatest love a girl could ever wish for.
Our story was the stuff movies are made of, right? I mean, I walked into a dirty bar bathroom and kissed you! I don't know that I ever really told you, but that kiss… it changed my life forever. All that 'newborn' stuff? There was something in that kiss that I'd never felt before, and it scared me. So I tried to run. But I couldn't. You were always it for me. I knew it that first time that our lips touched.
Do you remember that weekend we went away to Miami? The midnight picnic? We laid under the stars making up names and stories for the constellations. We'd only been dating a few months, but I knew that night you would be my wife one day.
Thank you for the most amazing love story of all time Calliope. I fell in love when you woke me up. You woke me up Calliope. You. Please don't hold unto all of that. It's okay to share it. Don't close off your heart. I still stand by what I said in the bathroom that night. There will be people lining up for you. An old man once proved to me that you can even find love when you're 85!
You and Sofia will be okay. I know it. Because you are you, and you are an amazing mother. I have no doubt that our little girl will have all of the love in the world. She's amazing, isn't she? We didn't get it all wrong. One day when she brings home her first girlfriend… or boyfriend… be nice Calliope. Just make sure whoever it is, treats our little girl right.
I so wish I could be there to see our little girl get married. She's going to be such a beautiful bride. If she looks anything like you did on our wedding day someone should stand really close to the groom in case, he or she faints. I swear, I still don't know how I kept my knees from buckling when you started walking towards me. That smile right there, that beaming, radiant smile… you are so beautiful. Keep smiling.
Walk tall Torres,
Arizona
Holding the sheet of paper to her chest, tears unabashedly streamed from dark eyes. Wiping at the moisture had little effect, as the onslaught of memories of the beautiful blonde nearly overwhelmed the brunette. The letter even smelled of Arizona's signature scent. Taking in a long draw of the paper, Callie basked in the ambiance of the familiar scent.
"Callie? Are you okay?" The brunette heard a voice call from outside the room. "Babe, what are you doing down there?"
Tanned hands quickly wiped at the continued moisture streaming down flushed cheeks before trying to smuggle away the letter that stirred up all these emotions. "Huh?"
"Sweetie, are you crying? What's wrong?"
Before she could effectively bury the paper back inside the box she'd found it in, her wife rounded the bed. She had been caught. Halting her movements, it was unclear why she felt so caught. "Sofia needed a picture for her project. I thought we kept the wallets in here." Callie pointed toward the open box, still using the other hand in attempt to clear the emotion from her features. "I found this." She offered the letter.
Pale hands opened the letter, not needing to read it to know exactly what it was. "Oh, Calliope…" Arizona sat down on the edge of the bed. "I forgot all about this... I honestly don't even know why I still have it." Folding the paper, the blonde replaced it back inside of its envelope. "Come here." She pulled the taller woman up from her perch on the floor, offering the spot on the bed beside her wrapping her arms around her lover's waist pulling the brunette in.
Nothing was said, both women melting into each other. "That night in Miami, I swear I had to keep pointing out more constellations to keep from proposing to you right then and there." Callie recalled, pulling a fair hand into her own lap, playing with the diamond encrusted ring she'd been so proud to put there just a three years earlier. "Mark said it was too early." Shoulders shrugged. "But I knew… I already knew it, even then."
"Oh yeah?"
"Absolutely. We're meant to be."
Arizona turned, pressing a kiss to the softly tinged caramel cheek of her wife. "I love you, you know that?" Blue eyes met the chocolate orbs of her lover, watering at the pure look of love exuding from the other woman. "I didn't think I'd ever get to have this with you again." Arizona spoke, catching her wife's hand that had come up to swipe away the tears. "I mean, I thought that I had it and I screwed it up, and that was over."
…
4 years ago
"What brought this all on tonight?" She asked tentatively, not wanting Callie to go running for the hills.
Unable to break away from the gaze, the taller woman sat up from their resting form. Looking into those pools of blue, Callie knew she couldn't hold it in any longer. Or rather she didn't want to hold it in any longer. "I want my wife back Arizona." The words drew a shocked gasp from her ex-wife. "I want my family back."
Reminded of advice from her late best friend, Callie's confidence flourished. "Somehow we forget that all that matters is people. And whether we walk away leaving them better or worse for having met us. We control that." Mark spoke directly to his friend. "I want you to promise me something. If you love someone, you tell 'em. Even if you're scared that it's not the right thing, even if you're scared that it'll cause problems, even if you're scared that it will burn your life to the ground, you say it, and you say it loud. And then go from there." The conversation replayed in her head, pushing her mouth to move of its own accord.
"If you love someone, you tell 'em. Even if you're scared that it's not the right thing, even if you're scared that it'll cause problems, even if you're scared that it will burn your life to the ground, you say it, and you say it loud. And then go from there." The words fell from plump lips. "I love you Arizona, I always have. I-I love everything about you. Even the things I don't like, I love." A tanned hand maneuvered to cup a fair cheek. "And I want you with me. I love you, and I'm pretty sure that you love me, too." Searching crimson streaked pools of blue, Callie asked. "Do you?"
"Yes."
…
Present
CRASH. "Moms!"
"Your children are calling."
"Oh, my children huh?" A slender finger playfully poked her wife in the side.
Bubbly laughter fell from plump lips. "The way I hear it, they get all of that rambunctiousness from you." A tanned hand gestured around in her wife's direction, both women laughed at the truth of the statement.
"We moved around a lot, Tim and I had to do something for fun."
"Fun, Arizona?" Callie released a full belly laugh at that, getting shrugged shoulders in response from the shorter woman. "Leaving your enemies mayo filled donuts is so wrong. Where did you even get the idea for something like that?"
"We asked Jeeves!" Arizona joined in her wife's laughter, thinking of the memory. "Besides, those kids deserved it. They were so meeaannn." She elongated the word, stressing her point.
"You two were so bad."
"Bad, huh?" Standing from her spot on the bed, Arizona turned in front of the still seated brunette. Softly pushing her backwards onto the mattress, the shorter woman straddled her lover. "I'll show you bad…" She leaned forward, licking the shell of a caramel ear. "Very bad…" The moist tongue trailed a scorching path down to the thrumming pulse point, sucking at the skin found there getting a guttural moan from the woman beneath her.
A surge of desire pushed strong hands to wrap around the firm ass of the woman above her. Their surroundings completely dissolved, the two women completely indulged in, "MOMS!" The door to their bedroom burst open. "Sam and Dylan are destroying the house. They won't leave me and Zola alone!" Sofia was upset to say the least.
"Probably a good thing we didn't make it to those ten kids, huh?" Callie spoke under her breath.
"Moms! Ugh!" The ten-year-old stomped her foot, her frustration at being seemingly ignored growing.
One more quick peck to plump lips, blue eyes looked up from her perch atop her wife taking in the sight of their daughter. Sofia was every bit the spitting image of her mama. Arizona struggled to keep a smile from forming at the sight. It wasn't that she was amused by the distress of her daughter… sometimes it was all just so, surreal. "Come on mama, looks like the terrible twos are 'destroying the house'." The two moms popped their little bubble, Arizona reluctantly leaving her post.
"We should probably…" Callie motioned over her shoulder toward the hallway.
"Yeah, but first…" The shorter woman leaned forward, blonde locks framing her face, soft lips pressed into the still pulsating red painted ones. Pulling back, soft cerulean met deep chocolate; everything was conveyed in that one look. "I am so in love with you."
"You, Arizona Robbins, are the love of my life." The brunette leaned forward, pulling her wife back in for one more deep embrace.
Sofia loved getting to see her mom's like this, but they needed to get up and stop making goo-goo eyes at each other and wrangle in her little brother's. She and Zola were trying to paint nails. Of course with all of the colors, the twins wanted to paint as well. "Moms!"
"I think today is perfect for a day at the park, what do you say?" Callie proposed. "We'll set up a blanket for the girl's and the boys can run around until they drop."
When Arizona had gone to her one-year check-up, the news of being cancer free set something off within in her. That night she lay in bed with her new wife, unsure if the other woman had already drifted off to sleep. Unable to hold it back any longer, the words fell away unwilling to be held captive any longer. "I want to have a baby."
The entrance she was making into sleep land was quickly revoked. Not speaking, dark eyes danced around the dimly lit room waiting for more words. It didn't take much convincing for Arizona to get Callie on board. Before treatment, Arizona had some eggs frozen for the just in case.
Agreeing to a surrogate and finding a sperm donor happened almost over-night. When the OB gave them the news they were getting a two for one special, the mothers were over the moon. Just two years after finding their way back to each other, the couple welcomed two beautiful baby boys; Samuel Benjamin, and Dylan Anthony Robbins Torres.
On the way to the park, the family stopped to pick up a pizza. Arriving to the playground, the food was quickly devoured. Now, Arizona sat with the girls painting nails while her wife chased after the boys.
After a while, Callie joined her wife on the blanket, winded from all the running around. Nails completely dried, Sofia and Zola decided playing with 'Sam-I-Am' and 'Dill pickle' as the family lovingly referred to the toddlers, wasn't so bad. "Are we really ready to start all over again?"
Arizona laughed at the question from her wife. "Oh sweetie, Brianna will be here any day now… I think it's a little late for that question." Their surrogate was carrying their baby girl, due to make her arrival any day now. "I think we're awesome parents." The blonde turned, dropping a kiss on the caramel cheek.
Leaning into the taller woman, a smile crept across porcelain features. Just a few years ago she was divorced, living on the opposite end of the country from her daughter, and given a sentence of leaving her daughter to mourn her memory. Completely estranged, the relationship with the woman once thought to be the love of her life, was the very definition of torrential.
Or was it? If they were ever truly in love, could they ever really be estranged? Can true love be estranged? Lying in her wife's arms, the question passed through the blonde's mind. 'The lane of love is narrow; there is room for only one.' The quote from Indian poet, Kabir, came to mind. Arizona had found hers, and was determined to never let her go again.
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So? What did you think? I hope you liked it… let me know? I appreciate all comments and shares. I really do love to hear your thoughts.
That's all folks! Thank you for going on this journey with me. You all have been nothing short of absolutely amazing. Now back to 'The Ride', a new update will be out soon.
xoxo