In the grand scheme of things, hanging out inside of Arizona's apartment while waiting for the blonde to finish showering was really not what she'd expected her day to come to. She felt fidgety, wandering around the living room and looking at the knick-knacks. The reason for the fidgety feeling wasn't because she felt uncomfortable being here – it was because she did feel comfortable, but she felt like she shouldn't.

It was kind of comical, she could acknowledge that. Over the course of the last few months, she had been in this living room several times. She'd been taken from behind, bent over the couch. She'd eaten Arizona out while they'd laid on the floor, while the blonde's hands held onto the bookshelf.

But never before had she actually had the time or permission, really, to just walk about and learn about Arizona's life through her belongings. It had never been explicitly stated in their fuck-buddy status that she wasn't "allowed" to peek around, but she just never did it. Now, there was just a whole wealth of information at her disposal.

On the bookshelf, mostly covered in textbooks with not much free-time reading there – which, Callie definitely understood, because if there was any med student who had free time to read for pleasure, she needed to know their secret – were three framed photos. One was of the older couple she'd seen the blonde with Thanksgiving weekend, presumably her parents, another was of a man in uniform, with blue eyes, golden brown hair, a bright smile that radiated just like Arizona's, and she could spot dimples, too. Definitely a brother. The third photo was of the same man and Arizona, hugging, and she could see in the photo Arizona's eyes squeezed tightly closed, the way someone would look trying to hold in tears.

Before she could investigate farther, Arizona's voice appeared behind her, "That's my brother. Tim."

Spinning around, she gave her a sheepish smile, "I didn't mean to snoop." Freshly showered, Arizona smelled like flowers and she had done her hair into two damp braids.

The blonde shrugged and hesitantly walked closer, so that they were standing side by side, "It's not a big deal. Friends know these kinds of things about each other," she said with a dimpled smile.

Friends also didn't remain super conscious of not touching each other, Callie thought, but didn't say anything. She thought that maybe, after spending more time together, they would be more natural. Things weren't really awkward between them, when they would run into each other, but it was mostly because in the last two weeks, since they'd made this decision, they'd hardly seen each other at all – it was the end of the semester. Both of them had final exams to study for, not to mention Arizona's extra TA responsibilities.

Those excuses were gone now, seeing as how it was officially the first week of winter break. This morning, Callie had gone out to breakfast alone – Addison was with her parents for the month off in Aspen, Mark was having a home-grown Shepherd family Christmas in New York, and Cristina… well, Cristina was, as she put it, "Sure as hell not going home," so Callie assumed she had all but moved in with Meredith for the break, as she hadn't seen her in a while.

Which left Callie with a lot of alone time on her hands. As she'd sat in the diner, empty plate in front of her, she had taken out her phone and spent long minutes thinking about whether or not to text Arizona. Who knew if she could even be around, as most people had left for the break? But her decision had been made for her when the doors to the diner jingled and in walked the object of her thoughts.

In sweat pants and a heavy purple winter jacket, as they'd just gotten their first coat of snowfall the night before. Dressed down like that, she still looked fresh and beautiful – friends could think other friends were beautiful, Callie assured herself of that. Leaving cash on the table for her breakfast, she'd stood and walked up behind the blonde who had just been handed her over the counter coffee.

Which was a bad idea, because she startled Arizona, who'd practically thrown the hot coffee in the air in surprise, spilling it all down the neck of her coat, into her over the shoulder low ponytail… yeah, it hadn't been Callie's smoothest morning.

But Arizona had taken it in stride, smiling and asking if she wanted to come back to her apartment – just to hang out, as soon as Arizona washed the coffee out of her hair. Which left them where they were, standing next to each other in silence in front of her bookshelf.

Callie nodded, "They do. Is your brother – Tim – in the army?"

"Marines," the blonde quickly corrected, flashing her smile as an apology for her snappy reply, "I grew up in a military family – you don't want to confuse the two terms."

"A military family?" she asked, wanting Arizona to continue. Through months of being intimate with the shorter woman, she really knew almost nothing around her. Not really intimate at all, beyond the purely physical.

Arizona inclined her head toward the kitchen, and Callie followed her as she listened to the blonde speak, "Yeah, my great-grandfather was in the marines, and both my grandfather and his brother were. Then my dad, and now Tim."

The blonde moved around, making herself a cup of instant coffee. When it was in a mug, Callie offered a smile, "I promise I won't make you spill this one."

Arizona laughed, "I appreciate that. But yeah, we moved around a lot when I was younger, never stayed on one base for longer than three years until I was sixteen and my dad was placed at a higher level job at Quantico in Virginia." She sipped the coffee with a grimace, "This stuff is terrible."

"Hence why you went out to buy some this morning," Callie finished apologetically. When Arizona waved it off and continued to drink the beverage, while leading them back into the living room, she asked curiously, "So, where was your dad stationed?"

Squinting her eyes, she could remember bits and pieces of every place, even though many of them blended together, "Um, I know we were in San Diego when I was born, and we stayed there for a while. Then we moved to… South Carolina. The first place I really remember being was Japan, and then there was Hawaii, until I was ten. Georgia was next, and then Germany, where we stayed for a full three and a half years, until my dad was permanently moved to Virginia. Where we moved into a real house, not on a base," she finished while her eyes lit up.

Callie's eyebrows shot up, "You lived in seven different places? Did you like it? I mean, I guess it must have been interesting."

"It was definitely interesting," she agreed, but mostly she just remembered feeling isolated from all of the normal kids she saw living off base, "But Tim and I saw it differently – he loved it. The different experiences, the stories that came with all of the places we saw. I didn't hate it, but I really wanted all those roots that other people had. I mean, here I can tell people I come from Virginia, but I don't have anywhere that I'm really from. And I only had my brother for a true friend. And Nick, who lived on the same base as we did half the time, but still. And they were both great, Tim is… he's the best brother ever. But it's just not the life that I would fantasize about," she finished, drawing rings around her mugs' rim with a wistful look. Shaking her head as if to clear it, then sitting on the couch, folding her legs under her while Callie mirrored her pose on the other cushion of the loveseat, she asked, "What about you?"

Thinking of her own family, her parents, she inwardly cringed. But Arizona had shared with her, which she knew – god, she knew – was difficult for the blonde, "I was born and raised in Miami. My parents were – are – pretty wealthy –"

Arizona mumbled, "Gulliver Academy," into her coffee cup with a small grin.

Catching it, Callie leaned forward slightly, "Did you just name my school?" Amused, she watched as color tinted the fair cheeks as she hid as much of her face as she could behind her coffee cup.

After a long sip, Arizona tried to play it off, "Yeah, I mean… I have access to information. As a TA. Completely legitimate."

"Mhmm," she lifted a brow, staring at the TA with suspicion, "As you just said, I went to Gulliver Academy, which is a pretty prestigious private school near my house."

"What do your parents do? For work?" Arizona asked, finishing her coffee and feeling completely alert as a result, placing the cup on the coffee table.

As she'd always been, she wasn't super comfortable talking about her parent's money, and she brought her hand to her knee to play with the fraying part of her jeans, "My mom is a professor of literature at the U of Miami. Mostly focusing in Greek mythology."

That bright smile came out, dimples popping, "Your name," she proclaimed, putting two and two together.

For some absurd reason, she just really loved that Arizona knew that, "And my sister, Aria."

"Your mom has good taste in names. Calliope and Aria," Arizona said out loud in a somewhat dreamy tone.

Callie broke the reverie by laughing, "Not so great when we have to be taunted by our classmates. Do you think my parents wanted me to go by Callie? I had to save myself the humiliation of my full name!"

"Hey, you don't have tell me about how kids are cruel about names! Mine is Arizona; I know how to fight dirty on the playground, too," she chuckled, but then laughed even harder, remembering her time in Hawaii, where the teasing had been the worst, but there were some named that she couldn't even pronounce of kids who mocked her.

"I explained my name, now you do yours. Are you really named after the state?" she asked teasingly, tentatively and lightly kicking her foot out to nudge Arizona's.

Arizona lifted her elbow to rest against the back of the couch, leaning her head on her hand as she explained, "Now don't be ridiculous, it has more meaning than that. My grandfather – in the marines, as you now know – was serving in Pearl Harbor during the war," she paused, thinking of how her dad would say this story with such pride.

Callie nodded in understanding, "The USS Arizona," she muttered. Surprised blue eyes snapped up to her face and she smiled indulgently, "Fancy private school. We learn a lot."

"Right. So, you've practically got it all on your own. My grandpa saved nineteen men on the USS Arizona before he died. My name – and my brother's name – both come from that. My dad's dad's name was Tim," she said by way of explanation. She wanted to move the conversation back to the Latina, so she prompted, "Anyway, your dad, what does he do? Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

Callie pictured her dad's proud face in her head, "My dad is the CEO of Archfield hotels," she muttered the last part, waiting for Arizona to make a production out of it like most people did. Trying to measure the look on the blonde's face, she was relieved to see that while she did look impressed, she didn't shout or ask exactly how rich Callie was. Instead, all she did was nod, waiting for the Latina to continue. Grateful, she did, "And I have one sister, Aria. She's a year younger than I am. Growing up, we were close… she's always been really dreamy, hopeful. I always wanted to be a doctor. She dreamed of getting married. And she is, now. Felix Reyes was a year older than me, and he grew up next door. Everyone knew Felix and Aria were going to get married since she was, like, five. He was this neighborhood athlete tough guy, but even when we were kids, she had him wrapped around her finger."

Liking the picture Callie was painting in her head, she sighed, "That must be nice."

Agreeing completely, because she was positive her sister's life would make a great fairy tale, she nodded, "Yeah, he proposed to her the day she graduated high school, then they got married a year later. A year after that, they had my niece. And now a nephew."

Arizona could tell by the smile ghosting around Callie's mouth that she must be very close to her sister, but she could also see the shadows in her face when she'd brought up her family. There was something more there, but she wasn't going to push for it; they all had their demons. "That sounds lovely for them. You Torres girls, going after your dreams," she tapped the Latina's foot with hers this time, and they both smiled.

Shifting so that she wasn't looking right at the face that made her heart stutter, Callie leaned into the cushion behind her, "So… what do you want to do today?"

Turning her body in a similar fashion, she looked out the window to see that the snow was now coming down, just as it had been last night. Excited, Arizona clapped her hands, "We could go out and do something in the –"

"No," Callie cut off calmly, laughing as the blonde's face fell instantly into a dejected expression, "Sorry, but I was born and raised where the weather rarely dropped for it to be cold enough for anything frozen to fall from the sky. Even after living in the northeast for almost seven years, I still am not a fan of the snow. I'll tolerate it, but I won't frolic in it."

Heaving an overdramatic sigh, the blonde flopped back into the back of the couch, looking around the room, "Movie marathon?"

"Now that, I can work with," she smiled, and looked over at the shelves under the television that had all of the DVDs on it. Arizona gestured towards them as if saying you choose, so she walked over.

But Arizona learned that having Calliope choose the movie was probably a bad decision, because now she was about five feet away from her, on her hands and knees looking at movies, with her fabulous ass pressed against the worn fabric of her jeans. She could practically feel herself start to salivate – no.

Friends. Friendly thoughts. Friendly thoughts about her friends' amazing body that her hands itched to touch. Clearing her throat, she pushed herself up, "I'm going to get a water. Do you want one?"

"Sure," came Callie's response, as she remained oblivious and digging through the movies.

She took a few moments in the kitchen down the hall to calm herself. It wasn't like it was any secret that she fucking loved the Latina's body, so she had nothing to really hide. They both knew that the physical part of their interactions worked just fine; it was controlling those primal urges that they had to do now. And she could. Because she was an adult.

Okay. Grabbing two drinks, she walked back in, thankful that Callie was now sitting upright in front of the DVD player, her voice dripping with disdain as she laid out the choices they had before them, "Arizona, I hate to say this, but I don't know how our friendship is going to work when the only movies you own are a cross between romantic comedies and Disney."

Defensive, she put the water bottles on the table and then her hands to her hips, "What is so wrong with Disney?"

"Aha!" she cried in victory, jabbing her finger at the other woman, "So you admit that romantic comedies are terrible."

"I never claimed that they were great works of art; I like them because they are mindless entertainment, and you always know the ending. In both romantic comedies and Disney movies, the ending always works out in favor of the good guys. I like that," she finished, dropping back down to the couch and crossing her arms, "What would you like me to have stocked? Artsy films? All those symbolic award winners that require you to constantly be thinking about the meaning behind every action?"

Callie threw her head back, "God, no. I'm all for mindless entertainment, I just prefer it in the horror/gore kind of way." She watched Arizona's reaction to her words, seeing the goose bumps pop up on her arms, and her mouth fell open, "You're afraid of horror movies?"

"Isn't that the point of them?" she challenged back. God, she really did hate horror movies. Shoulders slumping in admitted defeat, she threw back, "Well, you know what Calliope, yes I am. And if you can mock romantic comedies, then I can mock horror. But there is no way anyone can dislike all of Disney."

Making a choice, she slipped in a disc and rejoined the blonde on the couch, "I never said I disliked Disney. I just can't believe a twenty-five year-old woman owns every Disney movie on DVD," she added, poking her finger into Arizona's ribs.

It wasn't until Callie did that that either one of them realized that for once, they weren't sitting on opposite sides of the couch, rather, both inward toward the middle section. Still not touching, but there were only about two inches of space separating them. But neither moved away, and they each took a deep breath. They could do this.

Looking back at the screen, Arizona smiled, "My brother bought pretty much the entire Disney collection for me last Christmas. Oh, Toy Story! This was always one of my favorites."

"Mine too," they both grinned, then settled down to watch the movie.

By the end, both of them were slumped down against their respective arms of the couch, their legs tangled together in the middle with a blanket over them, but instead of the feeling being tense, it was extremely natural. Comfortable. Neither of them were going to question it, especially not out loud. As the credits rolled, Callie shook her head, "Sid is one fucked up little kid. I'm pretty sure my psych rotation points to him being the beginnings of a sociopath."

Sitting up a little straighter, Arizona reached down to smack Callie on the knee, "Hey, he's just a little kid; little boys can sometimes do those weird things," she defended.

Callie arched a brow, "Did your brother ever blow up his GI Joe's?"

"Absolutely not. Blowing up toy soldiers on a military base wouldn't be the smartest thing to do," sitting back down, she thought for a second, "You know, you're probably right about Sid. But I think with a little therapy, he'd be fine."

Callie chuckled darkly, "That's what they all say." She watched for a moment as the credits rolled, then looked over at the blonde, whose head was resting on the arm of the couch. This felt right to her; a gross, snowy day, curled up under a blanket with Arizona watching… to be honest, at this point, she didn't really care what they were watching. She just cared that she felt happy.

As if sensing eyes on her, Arizona lifted her head and gave Callie a small smile, "Do you want to watch the next one? Or not, you don't have to feel like you have to stay over or anything."

Pretending to contemplate, she stretched her hands above her head, "Hmm…" but it didn't last long before she grinned, "Yeah, I want to hang out." Lifting the blanket, she untangled her legs and swung them over the edge, going to get the second movie.

"While you put it in, do you want some lunch? And by that, I mean I will call in takeout from somewhere," she explained with her dimpled smile.

"Sounds good. Pizza?" the Latina asked after putting in the new movie.

Arizona already had her phone pulled out, "On it. Toppings?"

After agreeing on simple pepperoni, they settled back on to the couch, only moving when the delivery boy rang the bell from below. Arizona was already up, reaching for her purse hanging on the arm of a chair, "I got it."

While she ran down, Callie made her way to get plates and drinks. Upon opening the fridge, she literally froze and stared dumbly at the contents until Arizona came back in, "Hey, what are you looking at?"

Slowly, she looked at the blonde, "You have… literally nothing in here but drinks and a few old Chinese food containers. How do you live?"

Sticking out her tongue, she kicked the door to the fridge closed so Callie could no longer look, "Easily. On junk and snack food and takeout," she responded, turning with the pizza box and leading them back into the living room.

Taking the plates and a couple more water bottles with her, she followed, "How are you not six hundred pounds?"

Blue eyes rolled in her direction, "A good metabolism and a love of running. What, do you actually cook?" she teased as she flipped open the box and served them both a slice on each plate before sitting back with it on the couch.

With a small laugh, Callie followed suit, sitting back in her spot of only an inch or two away from Arizona, "Um, yes, actually. I will have you know that just because I had an at-home chef in my house, I am still an excellent cook." She reached for the remote and pressed play, watching the movie for a moment before realizing that Arizona was still looking at her. Pausing, she turned her head, "What?"

Arizona tried to wipe the small smile off her face, "Nothing, it's just… my parents and I have this ongoing debate about women and cooking." And that I need to marry a woman who can cook. Shaking her head, she looked at the television, "Okay, resume. If Sid from the first one deserved therapy, then Al is a straight up lunatic."

After the second movie ended, they both sat up to stretch, and Callie eyed the last piece of pizza in the box. She was going to go for it, and then she noticed Arizona doing the same. Narrowing their eyes at each other playfully, they both dove in, and the blonde managed to get a hold of the crust first, jumping in victory, holding the slice over her head. "It's mine! It's all mine!"

"Or so you think!" Callie shouted back, and dove forward to grab it.

Leaping backwards, she just managed to avoid Callie's grabbing hands, and she took off running, hearing Callie chase her, as they were both laughing. But as soon as she reached the kitchen, Arizona slipped – bad idea running on the hardwood in her socks – knocking her breath out of her body as she landed unceremoniously on her back, the pizza slice sliding out of her hand onto the floor. Just as she inhaled, still laughing, Callie, who'd been right on her heels, tripped over her feet and fell on top of her.

Breathless after the fall, Callie shifted and became very aware of just how their bodies were pressed together. Looking down, the laughter died on both of their faces. Wide, dark blue – the same shade they were only when they were having sex or about to have sex – eyes stared up at her, the blonde's bottom lip being bit by her teeth. Barely managing to contain a groan, especially at feeling how perfectly flush their chests were against each other, Callie wanted – needed – to bend her head and taste the sweet, pink lips she hadn't tasted in weeks.

She started to inch down her head, feeling Arizona's breath hitch in her chest underneath her, seeing those eyes flutter closed, while anticipation wound tightly in her stomach. She wanted this – Arizona – so badly… but just before their lips were going to touch, she stopped herself. Friends… certainly didn't do this.

She whispered, their lips a breath away from touching, "I should go."

Arizona's eyes fluttered open again, her heart beating wildly in her chest, "Yeah," she whispered, keeping her body dead still as the Latina shifted, as so not make her curves wiggle any more seductively against her own.

As minimally invasive as possible, she pushed herself up quickly to her feet, then bent to offer her hand to Arizona, pulling her up as their palms made contact, fingers holding tightly, "You're okay? From the fall," she clarified.

The blonde swallowed hard and nodded, "Yeah, you?"

With a small chuckle, Callie awkwardly kicked her foot out, "Yeah, you kind of broke my fall."

"Right," she laughed in the same way, before they fell into one of those silences that they'd been so good to not fall into all day. "Well, I guess I'll see you later. Soon. I mean, no one else is really even staying around for the break, so... Do you want to go ice skating maybe? I really love ice skating, it's something I started when we were stationed in Germany, and -"

With a laugh, Callie interrupted, "Arizona. Yes, we will hang out again soon but not ice skating; I just got off crutches for my ankle, do you want me to have to go back on them?" She asked, slipping on her puffy black winter coat, that she'd had to trade in her leather one for now that the snow had started. "Wish me luck on the brave journey back in this perilous storm."

Looking out the window to see the flakes softly falling, she lifted an eyebrow and grinned, "I think you'll be able to make it. But good luck."

With a final wave, Callie left the blonde's apartment, for the first time, feeling like their relationship might actually be going somewhere, however slowly they might have to go to get there.


Please let me know what you think! I'm enjoying writing this new dynamic, so I hope you enjoyed reading it.