AN: I know it has been quite a while since I updated, but I have a lot more free time on my hands now and no obligations to take care of but this. So in other words, you have my undivided attention for a while. Enjoy my friends :)

Chapter 25:

After a long sleepless night worrying about Callie, Arizona goes into work the next afternoon with one goal in mind, talk to Calliope and ASAP. She arrives at the hospital around 1:00 p.m. and has a surgery scheduled for 2:00 p.m. She has a little bit of time to work with before she needs to get her patient into pre-op. She goes in search of Callie throughout the hospital and finds her at a coffee cart in the lobby.

Callie's mind is still swarming with emotions she has no control over. She doesn't know how she feels yet. She has been at work for a while now and is too deep inside her own mind. She decides to take a break from everything and get a coffee alone. She is standing at the coffee cart in the lobby waiting to be handed her drink when she sees Arizona out of the corner of her eye. Oh no she thinks to herself. She contemplates ignoring her and walking the other way, but realizes she needs to at least say something to Arizona. She takes the coffee that is being held out to her and steps to the side of the cart to add her sugar and creamer. Arizona walks up to her and looks timid and pale as a ghost.

"Calliope," Arizona starts to speak softly. Callie doesn't look up from what she is doing or acknowledge Arizona is any way. Arizona decides to continue, "I need to talk to you." Her voice is shaky while she speaks. She takes a deep breath to try and get her nerves under control. She just wants Callie to give her some kind of sign as to how things are between them, but Callie just continues stirring her coffee like nothing is happening. Arizona clears her throat and moves on. "Fine I'll just say what I need to say," she starts and can't help but wring her hands together. "I am so sorry," she says so genuinely that Callie stops her movements but still doesn't take her eyes off her coffee cup. Arizona pushes on, "I need you to understand that what you think happened yesterday didn't actually happen at all." Callie cuts off her train of thought.

"Arizona," she says curtly and finally looks up into the blue eyes that she can't help but adore still. There are tears welling up in her eyes and she swears there are some forming in Arizona's as well. She breathes deeply and straightens her posture before she loses her nerve to say the words she knows she needs to say. "I need some time," she barely gets the words out without choking on them. She takes another deep breath and starts again, "I need some time to think about things. I need some time away from you to see if I can get back to being friends with you." She knows that is all she can promise right now and it is the hardest thing to even try to think about being Arizona's friend again. She is still madly in love with her but can barely look at the blonde right now.

Arizona hears Callie's words and doesn't know what to think. Is Callie saying she doesn't ever want to be with Arizona again, or is she saying she could work her way back to it? Did she just say she wanted to be friends again?

"I don't want to just be your friend, Callie," she says softly and Callie looks away from her again. Arizona studies Callie's face and posture as Callie stares at the floor. She has never been more curious about what is going on in someone's mind before this moment. She waits and Callie finally looks up at her again with tears in her eyes and red anger splashed across her cheeks.

"Well you can't take back what you did, Arizona," she says sternly with anger clearly evident in her tone. As soon as the words leave her mouth she walks away from a defeated Arizona. Arizona starts to reach out to grab her arm and pull her back, but thinks better of it. What now?

Mark has been trying his best to stay out of the middle of his two best friends and their lovers' quarrel. He is totally on Arizona's side because he trusts her when she says she didn't sleep with Sarah and he wants Callie and Arizona to get back together, but he still wants Callie to come to him to talk if she needs it. He decides that both of them are his best friends and if either of them has a problem with that then they can shove it.

He has been avoiding them both all day. He brought Sam into daycare this morning with Lexie and once that was done he didn't really want to talk to either of them until they got over themselves and talked to each other. He is heading to the coffee cart in the lobby when he sees the two of them talking at the exact cart he is headed to. He stops dead in his tracks and watches their interaction. Callie does not look happy and Arizona looks like she has seen a ghost, or that she is a ghost. This can't be going well he thinks to himself. He watches Callie walk away and Arizona reach out for her before dropping her hand back to her side. Oh boy that didn't end well he thinks and wonders what they said. Damn, now he has to talk to one of them to find out.

He gives up on avoiding them and walks up to the cart that Arizona is still standing at. He comes up quietly behind her pulling out his wallet as he does.

"Well that looked like it didn't go well," he says cautiously, he doesn't want to step on any landmines so to speak. He orders his coffee and hands over his money before looking back at Arizona who is staring intently at the floor. She looks like she is deep in thought. "What did you say?" he asks. She looks up at him, but doesn't say anything just yet. Her eyes dart from his back to the floor.

"I told her I was sorry," she says then hesitates before getting the rest out, "and I tried to tell her that I didn't sleep with Sarah, but she wouldn't let me talk," she trails off. Mark gets his coffee and starts to walk to a bench in the lobby. Arizona follows blindly not knowing what else to do. They sit down and she finally continues when Mark says nothing. "She told me she needed some time before she could get back to being friends and I said I didn't want to be her friend." When she finishes speaking she looks up at Mark who is sipping his coffee. She looks completely hopeless and he feels the need to comfort her.

"Bold move, Robbins," he says and puts his cup down on the table. "I didn't expect Callie to be ready to talk yet, but I'm glad you gave it a shot." Arizona's face is covered with shock. "What?" Mark asks, confused as to why she looks surprised.

"Mark you told me to talk to her today!" she nearly yells at him. "Why did you say that if you knew she wouldn't be ready to talk?"

"I still want you to try, that way she will know you didn't sleep with Sarah as soon as possible," he says honestly and continues drinking his coffee. He is worried, but knows this will blow over. Callie and Arizona are too good together to let something like this be their end. "Hey don't you have surgery soon?" Arizona looks down at her watch.

"Shit!" she yells and jumps up from the table. She runs down the hall toward her patient's room. Mark shakes his head and chuckles before getting lost in thought about how he can help Arizona.

A week passes by at a snail's pace and every chance Arizona gets to talk to Callie is shut down by the brunette before a word makes it past the blonde's lips. Arizona is starting to think that she will never have a chance to talk to Callie and tell her what really happened with Sarah. The more time that passes without them speaking to one another, the more defeated Arizona feels about the entire situation. She just needs a reason to be in the same room with Callie. Arizona is desperate just to see and talk to Callie even if they don't have the conversation that has been dying to make its way out of her brain. Her mind and body are addicted to Calliope and she is longing for just the slightest bit of contact with the woman.

Arizona is working an overnight shift at the hospital when the exact opportunity she needs to fulfill her craving comes into the E.R.

Callie is paged to the hospital at 4 am. Sam is with Owen at a hotel for the night so she heads straight into work. The emergency room is quiet so she goes to the nurses' station to find out why she was paged. Two kids fell off the top of a playground after sneaking out of their houses; one boy, 15, with a possibly shattered elbow and broken ankle and one girl, 15, with a dislocated shoulder and compound fracture to her wrist. Callie knows this is going to be two long surgeries and she knows she is going to be stuck with Arizona all day because of them. As soon as the thought crosses her mind, none other than Arizona walks up to the nurses' station next to her.

"Good morning Calliope," she says softly, not in her usual chipper tone Callie has become accustomed to. Arizona is already in her scrubs and has a trauma gown on. She clearly knows what's headed to the pit.