Callie was sitting at her desk typing a report Jackson had asked her to prepare. When Jackson really started to back her about the cartilage research she starting dedicating at least one full day a week to do research or experiment in the lab even if it was her day off. She had thrown herself into it at times over the last two months especially on nights when Arizona had Sofia. She didn't have anyone to go home to so she might as well work on her research and make as much progress as she could before people forgot about her.

Ever since the TED Conference she had so many people interested and as a by-product she had now become somewhat of a superstar in the Ortho field, but we all know trends change and people always move on to the next big thing. She was pressing save on her computer and attaching it to an e-mail to send to Avery when her cell phone rang. She smiled as she picked up her cell phone to see 'my wife' showing on her screen, complete with a picture of a smiling Arizona holding Sofia. She pressed the answer button and put the phone to her ear.

"Hey you, what's up?"

She could hear Arizona sobbing on the other end of the line. Callie stood, her body and mind now on red alert.

"Callie I need you. I'm in my office, can you come right now?"

"I'm on my way."

Callie disconnected her phone, grabbed her jacket and bolted out the door of the research lab. She flew down the stairs instead of waiting for the elevator and half ran, half walked, to Arizona's office. She knocked lightly and tried to turn the handle only to find it locked. She knocked louder and yelled through the door, not caring about a few stares she got from nurses and patients.

"Arizona are you in there? Open the door."

Callie could hear shuffling around and then the unmistakable sound of crutches being used. It took thirty seconds for the sound of a click and Callie was able to open the door. She walked in and saw Arizona turning to face her, balanced on her crutches with tears streaming down her face, her leg discarded by the desk. Callie closed the door and immediately took her wife into a strong embrace, Arizona letting her crutches fall to the floor with a bang. She let Callie's strong arms circle around her waist to keep her balanced while her arms went around Callie's shoulders and she let herself cry. The two of them stood quietly, the only sound was the ticking of a clock and her sobs.

She finally calmed down and let Callie help her to the couch as she sighed in exhaustion. Callie handed her tissues and a bottle of water she kept in the office and sat down next to her, patiently waiting for Arizona to speak. While Arizona sipped her water Callie sat facing her as she pushed hair behind Arizona's ears and stoked her cheek with her thumb wiping away her tear trail.

"What happened honey? I thought you were really hurt for a second there." Callie continued to stoke her cheek and could feel Arizona calming down.

"I know, I'm sorry. I'm just in so much pain right now and I'm a little bit emotional from my session today and I think I'm PMTing as well, so yeah..."

Arizona trailed off and looked away blushing at her actions. She felt a little silly now but Callie pulled her into a hug and held on tight. When she pulled back Callie stood and walked back over to the door and relocked it. She kneeled down in front of the couch and picked up Arizona's leg, gently inspecting the stump and started to move her hand slowly with only a little force. She looked at Arizona before she continued. When Callie got the silent okay from her wife she applied a little more pressure and started to move slowly up and down Arizona's leg, kneading the tired and sore muscles. Callie could feel the tension in the leg and from Arizona so she knew she needed to take more drastic measures.

Callie stood and sat herself on the couch and pulled Arizona's legs in the air and moved under them so her thighs where right next to Arizona's behind. She reached down and restarted massaging the stump while she leaned forward and gently kissed her wife. It was slightly awkward but Callie made it work. She kept moving her hands on her leg while Arizona leaned up and took Callie's face in her hands. Their kisses became deeper as tongues gently massaged each other while small wimpers and moans were escaping their mouths. They continued to kiss until Callie pulled away, confident Arizona was now far more relaxed.

Callie turned her attention back to Arizona's leg and started her massage again, feeling a lot less tension from Arizona now. She carried on for a couple of minutes before she looked back at her wife. Arizona had her head back on the armrest and had her eyes closed, one arm slung over her eyes. She looked so at peace now compared to just a few minutes ago when she had looked so distraught.

Callie silently went about working the sore muscles and thought about what Arizona had said. Callie silently cursed herself for not noticing how much pain Arizona was obviously in for her to break down like that. In all fairness they hadn't seen much of each other since Sunday after Arizona had left the apartment after they had shared a family dinner. But judging from the redness and slight swelling in the leg it had been bothering her for a little while, probably starting to hurt again not long after she last massaged it after Barbara's funeral.

Arizona leaned back and let Callie work her magic while she relaxed back on the armrest. She had almost fallen asleep from Callie's actions but now quite. When Callie stopped moving her hands and placed her leg back on the ground, Arizona pulled herself into a sitting position as Callie looked over at her. Callie put her arm around Arizona's shoulders who cuddled into her as Callie placed a kiss on her temple and leaned her head on top of Arizona's.

"Why didn't you tell me you were in so much pain?"

"You know me, I'm too far too stubborn for my own good. There's been so much going on and we've been so wrapped up in each other I didn't want to spoil the mood by bitching about my leg."

Callie laughed, her body bouncing until she had tears rolling down her face. She wiped them away before she spoke to her wife.

"You know for someone so smart, you can be a real idiot sometimes. If you're hurting you're supposed to let me know, that's what I'm here for. Dummy."

Arizona giggled a little too and burrowed into the warmth of her wife and held on tight. She sighed as she felt Callie calm down from her laughter. Callie pulled herself away and turned on the couch until she was face to face with Arizona. Arizona put her head down slightly and her hands in her lap. Callie put a finger under her chin and raised her head until they were eye to eye.

"This is what Nicole and I've been talking about. If you don't tell me what's happening I can't help you. Stop trying to do everything yourself and tell me when something is wrong."

Arizona looked back down at her hands and then back at Callie.

"I know, believe me I know. I think my session with Nicole this afternoon has me more upset than I realized. I have to be honest with you, I got a little angry today. A couple of the questions she asked me really pissed me off and I raised my voice. I thought I was passed my anger but I guess I'm not. Please don't be upset with me."

Callie shook her head. "Arizona, you asked me to patient and I will but you need to be patient with yourself too. You can't expect the first time you really talk to someone about whatever you two talked about today that you won't get angry. You've never really expressed how you felt unless it was to me or, you know, using it against me." Callie said the last part quietly and her head went down a little.

"Callie..." Arizona took Callie's hand in hers before she continued. "I'm so sorry about how I treated you. I blamed you for everything. Everything. No matter what it was, I blamed you. You should have left me a long time ago after the way I treated you and I wouldn't have blamed you if you had. You stood there and you put up with my shit for so long and I don't think I can ever really make that up to you. All I can do is ask if you'll forgive me."

"Arizona I wasn't happy about the way you treated me but I forgave you a long time ago. You had a right to be angry at the world, you just took it out on me. I talked about it with Nicole a couple of weeks ago and she helped me understand why. You needed to be in control and because you weren't you had to blame someone and I was a convenient target. I'm still not happy about it myself but I'm not going to dwell on something I can't change. A clean slate means I'm not going to hold a grudge but I won't let you do it to me ever again. You have a right to be angry about what happened but if you want to move on you have to let go of that anger and forgive yourself too."

"I know. Thank you for helping me Calliope."

"You're welcome. So, um, what did the two of you talk about today?"

Arizona smiled, loving how caring her wife was. "Cliff's Notes version?"

Callie held up her hands. "Only if you want to talk. If you don't I'll understand."

Arizona smiled and leaned back against Callie who put her arm back around her shoulders.

"We discussed my initial reactions to waking up without my leg. We talked about Dr Boswell and why I did what I did with her. And then we talked about our lack of communication, which I have just failed at yet again because I didn't tell you I was in pain."

"Well the good news is you're recognising that you need to work on it and that's the first step to changing it. Give yourself a break and let go of your control to me once in a while. I will always be there to help you, you can trust me on that."

Arizona felt a tear toll down her face. "What did I do to deserve you Callie?"

"You must have done something right because I could never walk away from you. What do you say we get out of here and take Sofia home and order that Chinese you talked about this morning. I am suddenly very hungry."

"Sounds good. Can you hand me my leg?"

Callie walked over and picked up Arizona's crutches and handed them to her.

"Arizona your leg is too sore and needs a rest, just use your crutches."

Arizona sighed and pulled herself up using the crutches while Callie picked up her prosthetic and tucked it under her arm.

"It's just...I hate people seeing me weak and walking without my leg makes me feel that way."

"Trust me when I say no one I know thinks you're weak. If anything they think you're amazing because you've come back from all of this and here you are still doing a brilliant job, being an amazing doctor and surgeon. And I know a couple of other people who think you happen to be an amazing wife and mother too. You are braver than you will ever know Arizona, never forget that."

Arizona pulled Callie into a kiss as best as she could on her crutches. "Thank you Calliope."

"You're welcome. Come on, let's go home."

Hello, just a little fluff chapter and then I will be jumping to the joint therapy session. Thank you for all your reviews especially the guest who left me that long message. I agree cheating is a cop-out and my opinion is if you're not happy or not in love with someone anymore you should walk away, not go and cheat. Cheating has consequences as we all know. To cycworker-yes I agree. The worst case scenario conversation never took place on Greys because Arizona made her promise not to cut off the leg so I think maybe they never had one in the first place, Arizona wouldn't let her. As usual, any ideas or things you'd like me to try to include, let me know. Thanks again, Tigersforever. ;)