CHAPTER 12

An hour after Callie had sat down on the couch with the camera, Arizona drudged through the front door of the apartment. Her blonde hair was tied up in a messy bun, and her face was worn with extreme fatigue. Callie slightly jumped when she heard the front door creak open, and set down the camera with fumbling hands. She quickly grabbed a magazine and pretended to be reading it, before looking behind her and calling out, "Oh hey babe." Arizona threw down her purse on the kitchen counter, and went straight to the cupboard containing the wine glasses. Setting down a glass, and filling it with red wine, she took a sip and savored it in her mouth for several moments, before swallowing and again setting down her glass. "Hey," she finally said.

Callie stood up and walked over to her, grabbing hold of her wife's hand in hers and kissing the top of it. "Rough day?" She asked, tilting her head slightly and placing concern upon her countenance. Arizona took another extended gulp of wine before answering, "You could say that." She remarked, a type of frustrated amusement on her face. Callie knew it wasn't really the best time to bring up anything, but she was running out of time. The school play was tomorrow. "Maybe the wine will loosen her up," Callie thought to herself, hopefully. She walked back to the sofa and patted the spot next to her, "Will you come here, please?" She asked Arizona, putting on her best puppy-dog face that she knew Arizona couldn't resist. Arizona hesitated - all she wanted to go collapse in bed - but indeed, that face killed her every time, and she reluctantly complied, taking a seat next to her raven-haired wife.

Callie took the camera in her hands, "I got this out of the closet. I figured I could use it tomorrow, during the play. Is that okay?" She asked, trying to just carefully work her way into the topic. Arizona sipped her wine and nodded slightly, "Yeah, that's fine." Callie evaluated Arizona's face, debating whether or not to push forward. She decided, what the hell. "I was…looking through the old pictures, to see what I could delete. I got back to the pictures from when Sofia was born…" Arizona's eyes suddenly flashed a strange emotion - one that Callie couldn't quite describe. Perhaps pain…but it seemed deeper, somehow. The blonde set her glass of wine down on the side-table near her, and faced Callie, feeling there was more to her story, so Callie continued. "I found this picture…of you. Well, of us." She explained, showing Arizona the very picture in question, then bringing it back to her own viewing. Without looking up, she asked, "Who took it?" Then looked up into Arizona's suddenly teary blue eyes. Her voice was unexpectedly shaky as she replied, "Mark, I think. I dunno, I was asleep, as you can see."

Callie reached across from her, grabbing Arizona's hand, and speaking softly, "Arizona…" Tears now welled up in both of their eyes, "I'm sorry. I just was curious…" A strange, yet cute smile spread across Arizona's lips as the tears finally ebbed over and flowed down her cheeks, "No, no, it's okay. I would be curious too. It's just been an emotional day…" she started, but Callie stopped her, "I understand, baby. I just…I just wanted to tell you that I love you, so, so much. This picture reminded me once again just how extremely lucky I am to have you…and grateful that you stayed by my side during all of that. During everything. Even the events recently. I love you so very much, and the fact that I get to spend the rest of my life proving that to you…well, that makes me very happy." She finished, having taken both of Arizona's hands in hers and squeezing them lovingly. Arizona laughed happily through her tears, and threw her arms around Callie's neck, hugging her tightly. Callie hugged her back tighter, and they sat there for several minutes in silence. Arizona hadn't said anything, but Callie felt the response in her emotion and touch. That was all the response she had needed.

The following morning, Arizona awoke first. Since the two women both had the day off, there was no alarm to wake them up, and Mark had taken Sofia to school that morning. She carefully rolled out of Callie's close embrace, and sat on the edge of bedside, running her hands through her blonde curls which were tousled about. She stood up and walked over to her dresser, opening a drawer and pulling out a dark blue blouse, laying it on the bed. As she pulled her pajama shirt off, over her head, Callie stirred in her sleep and steadily rolled over to face Arizona, and opened her eyes slowly to see Arizona's bare chest. Callie rubbed her eyes, and grinned, "Well, good morning," she said in a raspy morning voice. Arizona giggled and put her dark blue shirt on, "Good morning, sleepy-head." Callie sat up on her elbows and looked at the clock, "Wow, crap. We slept 'till noon? Thank god the play isn't until 2:30." She mused, throwing the covers off her legs and getting out of bed. Arizona nodded in agreement and changed her shorts to black slacks, watching as Callie started getting dressed as well, not minding the view too much herself.

Once fully dressed, Callie walked into the living room, where she had left the digital camera the night before. She picked it up off the coffee table, looking at it for just a moment before placing it inside of her purse. Arizona followed her out shortly, then headed for the kitchen to grab something to eat. She found a blueberry muffin and took a bite out of it, watching Callie pace around the house looking for something. Arizona laughed to herself and raised an eyebrow, "Uhh, what are you looking for there, Cal?" By now, Callie was on her hands and knees looking underneath the sofa as she called out, "Have you seen my black shoes anywhere? I swear I left them in here last night…or maybe…" She got up and rushed towards the bathroom. Arizona grabbed her wife's arm, stopping her before she reached her destination, and forced her to look at her, "Callie. Your shoes are over there." She pointed to them, across the room, and then looked at her with her piercing blue eyes, "Calm down, a little, babe." Callie turned to get her shoes, and put them on, "I know, sorry. I'm just so anxious to see Sofia's first school play…I hope she gets her lines right. I remember my first play. I said 'magician' instead of 'musician' and then everybody laughed at me, and I never knew why until all the kids made fun of me the rest of the year. If those kids make fun of Sofia, I swear to god, I will kick their tiny asses." Arizona made a face at her wife and laughed subtly, "Well…she's been practicing hard. I'm sure she'll do awesome." Callie sighed after her ramblings, and nodded slowly.

A few hours later, Callie and Arizona were sitting in the school auditorium, in the second row. Callie had tried to get into the front row, but the last two seats were taken up by an old lady and a large, burly man - both of which Arizona had to restrain Callie back from creating a scene with in public over a couple of seats.

Once they finally settled in, Callie took out the digital camera from her purse and set it on her lap, toying with the settings to make sure everything looked good. Arizona looked around the room and surveyed the faces of all the parents, coming to the conclusion that she and Callie were by far the most attractive couple in the room. She smiled satisfyingly and wrapped her arm around Callie's back, to which Callie snuggled into.

Callie sighed frustratedly, turning to Arizona. "Arizona, what kind of father misses his daughter's first school play? I mean really. This doesn't happen every day, you know!" Callie fumed, and Arizona could tell this was really upsetting her wife. Normally, she'd be a little jealous at Callie's mention of Mark, but for some reason, she understood this time. She knew that Mark was Sofia's biological father, and he had a right to be at these sort of events, yet he wasn't. So she understood, especially from Callie's point of view; whose father was always at every performance, graduation, or sporting event. Arizona wasn't sure what to say, she just shook her head and rubbed Callie's back soothingly.

At 2:31 PM, an administrator stepped onto the stage as the lights dimmed, a spotlight focusing on the man in front of the microphone who proceeded to welcome everyone to the performance. Butterflies of excitement and anxiousness presented themselves in both Callie and Arizona's stomachs, and Callie quickly turned on the video recorder, not wanting to miss a moment. There soon after, the man exited the stage and the curtains began to split apart, opening to reveal a group of children in the middle of the stage.

Before a child could even speak in the play, Callie saw out of the corner of her eye, the side door to the auditorium open and leak sunlight into the auditorium momentarily before shutting again. Given the darkness, it was difficult to make out the form at first, but she soon recognized the familiar frame, and she gasped slightly, whispering, "Mark!" He tried to sneak through the third row, behind the two women, and sit behind them, but a fairly large woman got her personal space invaded by Sloan, and proceeded to hit him in the gut with her oversized purse, and he grunted slightly, before sliding into an awkward seat beside the woman and giving her a sheepish grin. Callie turned around, "Mark! What….what are you…" Mark just laughed quietly and said, "You thought I'd really miss my girl's first play? You know me better than that, Torres." Arizona just smiled at Callie, who turned back around and continued filming the play, a small smile of relief playing upon her lips.

Thirty minutes into the play, Arizona was grinning from ear to ear, and Callie was on the verge of tears from watching her little girl up on that stage, and Mark just kept whispering to the large lady next to him, "You see her? That's my girl up there," to which the lady held up her bulky purse threateningly, and Mark shut his mouth, looking back up to the stage. Finally, Sofia, in her princess attire, walked over to a little boy dressed in a frog costume and kissed him cutely on the cheek. At this point, Callie shrieked from cute-overload, grabbing Arizona's hand and barely holding the camera straight, tears of happiness crashing over her eyes at last. Normally, this kind of crap would annoy Callie, but it was an entirely different story when her baby girl was the star.

As the little boy in the frog costume retired from the stage, he returned shortly dressed as a prince. Sofia locked arms with the prince, and they walked to the front of the stage. They said in disjointed unison, "And they lived happily ever after." The curtains closed in front of them, and the audience began clapping. But Callie, Arizona, and Mark were all standing up applauding heartily and Mark was whistling with his fingers in his mouth. He kept exclaiming, "Did you see that? God that was amazing!" and Callie was wiping the tears off her face, feeling slightly foolish about crying once the play was actually over.

Despite her occasional waving at her parents, and hesitating at her lines a couple times, Sofia had done wonderfully in the play, and hadn't forgotten or confused any words. Callie was unbelievably proud of her daughter. The three parents had taken her out for ice cream afterwards, and Sofia was especially excited that Mark was there, even though he had to leave half-way through their ice cream outing because of a surgery scheduling.

The two women took their daughter home, and put her to bed. As Callie left the room, Arizona stayed a few extra moments, before Sofia drifted off to sleep, the blonde managed to whisper to her, "Sofia, I'm…really, really glad that I was here to see your play. You did so great, and I'm so proud of you. Uncle Alex would have been very proud, too." Sofia was too tired to reply, so she just smiled and nodded, and fell asleep. Arizona kissed her daughter's forehead, lingering for several moments, before tucking her in tightly. She walked towards the door, and stared lovingly at the little girl who had indirectly saved her life, before switching the light off.

Arizona joined her wife in bed, wrapping her arm around Callie's stomach and burying her face in her shoulder, and kissing her neck softly. She whispered into her ear, "We have a beautiful life. And I'm so…blessed, to be here right now. To spend it with you, and Sofia." Callie turned slightly, to face Arizona's eyes, which had small traces of tears within them. Callie didn't say anything, she just placed a soft kiss upon Arizona's full lips, and caressed her face. Though they had faced difficulties, tragedies, close-calls, and hard times…they were still together. They had each other, for the rest of their lives. No matter what happened, nothing could ever really be that bad - because they had each other. And that's all they needed.

- The End -

Author's Note: Thank you so much for reading. All reviews are welcome and appreciated. I'm sorry if it felt rushed at all, I wasn't sure how to wrap it up, but I tried my best given this was my first fanfiction. I hope you enjoyed reading it, I know I had a lot of fun writing it and putting my own little twist into the Grey's Anatomy world. I might write another fanfic in the future, but since school is rapidly approaching next month, I'm not sure I'll have time for a while.

I'm looking forward to Season 8, and everything that Callie and Arizona will bring us. Maybe that will inspire me to write another fanfic. :) Long live Calzona!