Title: Understanding

Author: Jrn77

Pairing: Callie/Arizona

Summary: Events surrounding 9x23-9x24

Rating: T for now

Disclaimer: All characters belong to ABC/Shonda Rhimes.

Note: I am in the process of watching every episode from the beginning. It is kind of giving me some new ideas.

Spinning

Time. It is a four letter word that is used on a daily basis. Sometimes we don't even realize we have spewed the word out of our mouths. Time comes and goes so quick that we don't even have an exact measurement to explain how fast our lives move. Does that make sense? Scratch that. I don't care what makes sense because our lives don't make sense a majority of the time.

Time makes or breaks us. It builds and breaks us. Time.

Just like the storms roaming through the Seattle skies, the monsoon that had hit and destroyed the foundation of Callie and Arizona's marriage continued to travel through the air.

Callie had once again found herself sleeping on the couch.

Here I am. Again. Sleeping on an uncomfortable couch in my own house while my wife. MY wife, the cheating one, sleeps in her bed. Her bed which was once ours, but now its filled with nothing but lies.

Callie continues to stare outside the window, wondering when both the storm in and outside of her home will stop. When the rain would let up Callie could hear the sound of muffled crying coming from the walls beside the couch.

At the same time, Arizona was hidden under a massive pile of pillows and tissues, shielding her eyes from the bright strikes of lightning that continued to crash against the windows of their dark apartment.

Their bedroom was so quiet. So empty. All of Callie's belongings were still where they had last been, but it wasn't the same without having Callie there.

They had somehow managed to avoid the talk that needed to happen. Well, the talk that would answer the question of where do we go from here?

Arizona felt guilty for what she had done, but her motive wasn't to hurt Callie. She wasn't seeking revenge. She had simply let go.

A large roar of thunder and lightning brought Arizona back to reality as the power suddenly went out. Awesome, she says to herself.

Callie, startled by the power outage jumped from her almost half asleep slumber from the couch. She first went to check on Sofia, who was still sound asleep. She then decided that she was going to check on Arizona.

No matter what she had done, she wanted to ensure that she was safe. She was her protector no matter what was happening.

Next Callie began to travel down the hallway leading to the bedroom. Her bedroom. Their bedroom. Callie began to cringe seeing their wedding picture hanging in the hallway.

Where did I go wrong? What should I had done differently? What could I have said to her?

Callie sighed as she knocked and slowly opened the door. Arizona soon popped out from the pillows and began to wipe the fresh tears that were pouring down her face.

"Hey..I just wanted to check and make sure you're ok..." Callie begins to say when she moves in their bedroom.

The darkness is hiding the piles of blankets that have fallen to the ground, leading Callie to soon trip and fall. This fall also leads to Callie, who is not the most graceful, hitting her head right into the edge of their bed.

"Oh my, oh my god, Callie! Are you okay!?" Arizona says quickly as she jumps off her side of the bed to find Callie at the edge of their bed with both of her hands covering her face.

"Callie, let me see. Are you okay?" Arizona as she pulls her wife's hands away from her face to realize that Callie is laughing.

"What...what. Why are you laughing, you are bleeding?" Arizona says in confusion as she sits directly next to her wife.

"I'm laughing because I came to check on you and now I'm the one who is hurt. I'm the one with no best friend and now no wife. I'm the one who's been cheated on. Do you get it? You lost your leg. I've lost everything now." Callie says as she stares at her wife.

"Yeah...I realize that. I don't even recognize my life sometimes. Sometimes I don't even know who I am looking at in the mirror." Arizona says as she sits next to Callie.

"I feel like I'm married to this ghost. A ghost that comes and goes whenever she pleases. It is like you are a different person everyday Arizona. I can tolerate the hateful words, and the blame for what I did but I can not handle that fact that you cheat...you know what why am I even talking to you right now?" Callie snaps quickly.

"I..I don't really know what to say Callie. I'm sorry is what I want to say but at the same time I don't want to. It was like I was free. In that moment my leg didn't matter. It was like someone liked me and was seeing me as the person I am today. For you that doesn't make sense because you are with me everyday. You've been with me from my first day at the hospital. Lauren didn't know the bubbly old Arizona. You did" Arizona says as tears begin to stream down her face

"Arizona I don't understand what I have to do to make you understand that I love you. I love you from the moment you kissed me. I don't ever plan on letting go of you but now I'm wondering if that is even up to me at this point." Callie says as she pulls her hand to stop the onset of tears trickling down Arizona's face.

"I'm afraid that you are in love with the old Arizona, and not the one who is sitting in front of you today."

Callie stops to turn and look at Arizona.

Was she in love with the old Arizona? Was she stuck in the past relying on constant replays of the old Arizona that she kept in her mind?

"I went through the windshield of your car. I almost died. Sofia almost died. When I woke up, you were the first person I saw. You were the only person I wanted to see. Not once did I blame you. Do you know why Arizona?"

"No..I don't think I ever thought of any of this before.."

"Because I love you. I love you so much to the point where my body was practically shutting down, but I made it through because I couldn't imagine living life elsewhere without you by my side." Callie says as she puts her hands up to her face.

"Callie...please don't cry. Please." Arizona says as she tries to pull Callie's hands away from her face.

"Arizona I forgave you without even asking for an apology. I saved your life and you hate me for it."

Callie had a point. The car accident was my fault. The plane crash wasn't hers. She even tried to stop me from going. She saved my life, and yet I hate her for it.

"When I look at you Callie I am so happy because I know you are the person who loves me the most, the person who would do anything for me and the person who knows me best. At the same time I look at the person who took away the most from me. It tears me apart inside."

"Until you let yourself forgive me we are going nowhere with this marriage. If this was anyone else this marriage would be over. Is it over Arizona?"

To be continued.