A/N - 'Be Still My Heart' tickles me and I had it on repeat for a week haha. Also, rating change. If you're more comfortable with a smutless version, you are always welcome to ask for it. If you wanna shove a Bad Sex Award in my face, please do so discretely. Writing sex has been one of the most terrifyingly stressful things I've ever done. (Worse than thesis statements on the boundaries of freedom of speech.) Okay, hope you come somewhere close to enjoying -

PART I - ALL THIS AND HEAVEN TOO

Florence The Machine

"And all my stumbling phrases

Never amounted to anything worth this feeling

All this heaven could never describe."

It's so fucking strange and wonderful how Mark can leave this place behind, just like any other bundle of bones, and almost make it look like he's never been here at all. And the changing of the seasons, leading to his whole damn life down to only memories living in other people's heads.

And a letter clutched tightly between Arizona's hands.

And it's so terribly tragic that even though he thought of writing this message for his family, it would never be exactly what he would want them to know, to feel like. Maybe he had put the wrong emphasis on the wrong part of the sentence, or maybe a pair of adverbs didn't fit exactly like they should've, but it's certain that it would come miles behind what it would be if he were really still here.

Callie watches the bottom of the page crinkle a little more every time Arizona holds it a little tighter. She quickly raises her hand to wipe at her eyes before any tears dropped down on their own.

"I bet you anything Mark is so smug right now," Callie says, chuckling as she wipes her eyes again, "Of us crying over his freaking letter."

"He totally is."

Callie sighs, prying the letter out of Arizona's hands and carefully folding it back to its envelope. Arizona chuckles sadly again and rests her head on Callie's shoulder. And even though Mark isn't really here, Callie's feels like he's kind of here, with the rest of his family. Right there in the dingy cab rushing along the streets at night, back to Callie's apartment. Maybe it's the letter. Maybe it's his last 'I love you', written in ink, not even in his handwriting. Maybe it's because when they miss someone hard enough, they might just get to feel that someone's presence once more.

But Callie swears she can feel Mark's presence, even if only a little.

She plays with Arizona's fingers idly as the cab turns on the corner of their street, listening to their breathing tangling together in the warm summer night air. It's comforting.

/

The few storybooks on Sofia's bookshelves have already been flipped through several times, and Sofia still insisted on rereading one before going to bed. And before Callie even reached the fifth page of the one in her hands, Sofia's little head is lolling to the side. Smiling to herself, she quietly set the book down and leans forward to pull the covers higher and press a kiss to Sofia's forehead.

"Goodnight, Sof."

Arizona watches them, leaning on the door frame, and when Callie raises her head again, an even bigger smile graces her face. Callie's stomach still does a flip when she sees Arizona looking at her like that, like she really just absolutely adores what she's seeing.

Tucking Sofia in to bed together again, and watching Arizona lean down to press a kiss on her head too, feels like family. And it's so great be feel like family with people.

The way Callie felt when she went to bars, escorted by Mark and Cristina, because the three of them in one place just made for a ridiculously fun night altogether. The way she felt when whole OR's started clapping after a particularly tough but successful surgery. The unity of people reaching for something together, except that with Arizona and Sofia, the feeling is private and shiny and so, so, great.

Callie wanders out of Sofia's room absentmindedly, with Arizona's arm around her waist.

"Stay for a bit," Callie says when they finally sat down in the living room.

Arizona nods. "Of course."

Callie grunts disapprovingly at the cupboard as it bumps into her head. "Do you want to do something productive or sit on the couch and whine about our sad existences?"

"We could bake banana bread. Sofia loves it."

"Oh really? And you think baking together is such a good idea?"

Arizona keeps her gaze on Callie and smirks, remembering how one of their 'culinary afternoons' turned out so be on a good day a few weeks into their marriage, all those years back. The counter needed severe cleaning afterwards. "Really. We're good, mature, down-to-earth surgeons, right?"

"Eh," Callie shrugs, "About half of the time. The other half, we're childish, dramatic, tragic suckers who get screwed over a lot."

"Such a nice way to put it."

"I just have a way with words."

"So I see."

Arizona chuckles at Callie bowing mockingly. "But come on, what's the worst thing that can happen?"

/

"What's the worst thing that can happen?" Callie quietly yells only to be shushed half-heartedly by a giggling Arizona. "What is the WORST THING that can happen?!" Waving her hand up and down herself and at the flour covered counter behind her, "Is this bad enough?!"

Arizona stifles another laugh as she shakily lifts a hand to remove the piece of banana that landed in Callie's hair. "I— Okay, you were right."

"OH, WAS I?"

Having her chuckles finally die down a bit, Arizona rolls her eyes. "Yes, you were right, Calliope. We just aren't destined to bake anything together."

"Exactly," Callie grumbles, "At least the bread's in the oven."

"And your kitchen looks like a banana made a baby with a bag of flour."

"Wow, thank you for putting that image into my head, Arizona," Callie says sarcastically.

"You're welcome."

Callie glares at her but chuckles too when she glances down at herself.

Somewhere along the way, Callie thinks she had said something that irked Arizona, which led to Arizona flicking her on the forehead. Which lead to Callie pinching her arm. Which led to Arizona gasping in indignation and swearing revenge on Callie while sticking a suspicious hand down the flour.

Which somehow led to her kitchen looking like a banana made a baby with her flour.

"We're world class surgeons. We should have enough common sense to know that baking together always ends up with the kitchen being horribly messed up and on of us drowning in baking ingredients."

Arizona scoffs and rests her hands on Callie's shoulders, looking her in the eye and saying in all seriousness, "Do I look like someone who has enough common sense?"

"No."

"Exactly."

"Well, at least we can be common-sense-less together then."

"Great," Arizona spins Callie around by the shoulders and points to the bathroom down the hall, "Now you can go clean yourself up and I'll take care of the kitchen."

"Should I trust you with my kitchen?"

"You and I both know I'll do just fine as long as you're not here to distract me."

Callie swivels her head around to glare at Arizona one last time. And then she breaks into a smile and leans over to press a quick kiss on Arizona's lips. "Something to distract yourself with while I clean up." She giggles, and leaves Arizona in the kitchen, hurrying down the hall, trying not to get flour on anything.

"Evil," Arizona huffs to herself.

After Callie comes out of the bathroom and gets assaulted by a quick make-out session being pinned against the kitchen island, she ushers Arizona to get on with the cleaning. And finally, they step back from the now at least decent looking kitchen.

"Jesus Christ, that took longer than I thought."

"Why don't you stay tonight?"

Arizona whips around, half-amused, half-surprised at Callie's sudden suggestion. Judging by the looks on Callie's face, she didn't expect herself to blurt it out either.

"Are...you sure?"

Callie shrugs, shuffling her feet just a little too uncomfortably to really be as nonchalant as she tries to look. "Yeah. Sofia is staying with me tonight, and you're already here, and it's really late, and I don't think I'll keep myself from worrying my pants off if you leave now…" She chuckles nervously, looking uncharacteristically flustered. Arizona just tilts her head, and tries to suppress her smirk, letting Callie ramble on. "And we almost finished that bottle of wine, so you'd have to take a cab probably, because no way I'm letting you drive, and there'll probably be a really creepy uber dude checking you out because it's past midnight and I like that thought even less—"

Callie swallows, cutting herself off. Arizona lets her smirk come loose and takes a step closer. Callie Torres, in all her badassery with her colleagues and surgeons, rambling and adorable, just being in front of her, is something Arizona will really never get enough of. Maybe she'll tease Callie more often just to see the rosy colour invade her cheeks every time.

"But it's the third date, Calliope," she teases.

Arizona grins cheekily as Callie flushes an even deeper colour. Seeing Callie so inexplicably and nervously cute is something she definitely has to see more of in the future. A normally put together and 'edgy' Callie can turn into this blushing girl within a matter of seconds, and Arizona can't even begin explain the desire it lights in her.

Callie scratches the back of her neck. "No, no, I'm not saying that anything will happen because it's the third date…Not that I don't want to! God, this is coming out wrong, I'm so sorry." Before Arizona could interrupt, Callie continues, "I mean, of course I want to do this right, but a number of dates shouldn't tell us when to have sex, even if, like, I'm really horny, because Sofia's here tonight and everything, you know…"

Arizona finally laughs and pulls Callie in by her waist to plant a hard kiss on her lips. Arizona can't help that same reckless desire and thrusts her tongue quickly into Callie's mouth that is still parted slightly in surprise. Feeling Callie's hands finding her neck, Arizona nips gently on her bottom lip before pulling back.

"It's fine. We are grown-ups. We can sleep in the same bed without anything happening."

"Right." Callie blinks rapidly, recovering from the hard kiss she was just oddly rewarded with. "Right."

Arizona feels undeniably proud at the flush of pink that she just seemingly fixed permanently on Callie's cheeks with her kiss. "Come on, show me to that bedroom."

Still dazed, Callie nods and sways a tad unsteadily towards the door down the corridor.

Arizona settles on the edge of the bed and watches Callie fumble for another shirt in her dresser. When Callie throws over shorts and a shirt, Arizona can't help but grin bigger at the intimacy of sharing clothes.

"I'm going to go change in the bathroom…er, right?"

Arizona quirks an eyebrow at Callie, "Hm?"

"Well, the last I changed in front of you, you looked ready to pounce on me."

"Aaand what's wrong with that?"

Callie opens her mouth and looks like a fish out water, her face going a funny shade of crimson shining through gold. Arizona thinks it looks awesome. Callie snaps her mouth shut, spins around, and marches into the bathroom, grumbling under her breath, as Arizona laughs behind her.

"God, I think this is the latest I've gone to bed in a while," Callie says as she comes out of the bathroom and sits next to Arizona on the edge of the bed. Arizona's already ridden of her prosthetic and gotten into the clothes Callie lent her, waiting for Callie.

"It's barely past midnight, Calliope."

"Yes, but I have such a boring life that I usually knock myself out before eleven if there isn't the pager screaming."

Arizona chuckles, scooting further onto the bed, and sits up against the headboard. She pats the pillows next to her, telling Callie to come closer too. "We used to be fun, right? We used to go out to Joe's and dance and stuff."

"We used to go out to Joe's and I would dance," Callie says as she settles herself horizontally on the bed, spread out carelessly with her legs resting on Arizona's. "You would stare at me because I'm so incredibly hot."

"Yeah right."

"Because I am. Very hot."

"You might dull the pain of existence just a little," Arizona says, shrugging, and tangling her legs with those of Callie's.

"Just a little? I'm offended."

Arizona laughs, "Maybe a bit more when you dance."

"I should dance more often, then."

"Oh, you totally should."

"I will, I will," Callie says, "And you said you would dance with me sometime."

"We will eventually. I still can't believe that you weren't one of those dirty hot cheerleaders in high school. You should've seen the ogling that goes on when we go to Joe's."

Callie lets out a noise somewhere between a snort and a choke. "You've been saying that since the first time I told you I was the weird kid at the back of the class!"

"Well, look at you! Can you blame me?"

"Hm." Callie wiggles her hips playfully and laughs. "I'm a lot different now then I was then."

"Aw, come on. You must've at least had some good times."

"I never said I didn't! High school just wasn't as hyped up as everyone makes you believe. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't spectacularly exciting with love triangles and secret romances and prom and stuff."

"Aww."

Callie chews on her cheek again, and adds, "Yeah, it was more like…white nights, not being able to find clothes that fit, being pushed around in the hallways and laughing with two people by the lockers." She scratches at her neck for a moment, and finally says, "It's stupid, idolising the teenage years the media shows and that you'll never achieve."

"Tim and I were the ones that made a show of pushing those people back."

"I would've been terrified of you guys in high school."

Arizona laughs, "I think you'd still fall hopelessly for me in high school."

"Mm." Callie purses her lips. "I think I would, actually, but I wouldn't do anything about it. I would probably sulk and watch you go around getting all the cheerleaders and be jealous in my little corner."

"Fair enough, but for the record, for some reason, I find that very cute."

"I'm not cute."

Arizona rolls her eyes and asks, "What was your favourite memory from the four years?"

"Um…leaving?"

Arizona rolls her eyes again and sits up to pinch Callie on the side.

"Ow!"

"Too cheeky."

Callie sticks her bottom lip out and rubs her side. "Mean."

"You're the one being snarky."

"But that's no excuse for violence as a solution to your problems," Callie quips back playfully. Pulling on a sophisticated looking face, she deepens her voice and booms, "Say no to violence, kids!"

Arizona giggles. "Okay, smartass. You're going to wake our daughter." Jerking her head, she gestures for Callie to come closer. "Come here and sleep."

Callie smiles at Arizona's extended arms and crawls up to lie down next to her. She's immediately drawn in by Arizona's arms around her waist and she tucks her face into the warmness of Arizona's neck. "How are you so hot but your hands stay so cold? Like, all the freaking time?"

Arizona chuckles against Callie's hair. "Are you saying I'm hot?"

"I'm saying your hands are really, really cold. I can feel them through my shirt." Callie's voice is muffled by Arizona's neck. "But yeah, you're pretty hot."

Arizona grins and sneaks a hand under the hem of Callie's shirt. Callie yelps and tries to pull away, only to be held in place even more firmly by Arizona's cold fingers.

"Hey, stop pulling away! I'm trying to warm my hands up."

Callie grumbles and settles herself back into Arizona after a shiver. "Still mean." Arizona smiles into Callie's hair again when she feels Callie's mumbling something else, and being interrupted by a yawn.

"Go to sleep, Calliope."

Callie groans, "I'm not that boring yet and I'm not that tired." She's interrupted again by a big yawn into Arizona's neck. "Okay, maybe just a tiny little bit."

"Sleep."

"Okay."

Arizona tangles their legs again and closes her eyes. She'd missed this. Falling asleep next to anyone is different to falling asleep next to Callie. Falling asleep next to Callie is righter than any other kind of sleep. It's more intimate than any other kind of sleep. Like Arizona had always fallen asleep and woken up with this woman in her arms, and had only taken a small trip away, but is now back to her routine. Like the very first time she'd come alive was waking up next to Callie.

She inhales the sweet smell of Callie's shampoo and traces circles on the warm skin of Callie's back absentmindedly as she holds on to every bit of Callie she feels.

/

Arizona fades back into something that feels an awful lot like reality.

But this reality isn't the morning. And something's woken her.

Slowly becoming a little bit more aware, she pries her eyes open when the body in her arms squirms and gives a quiet, almost silent moan. Before Arizona wakes up completely, she appreciates the blinds that they'd forgot to close before they fell asleep and the open window that gives way to a cool wind every handful of seconds.

She should really go close that crack in the window before either of them catches a cold.

Trying to sit up to go close the window, she finds that her knee is held snug between Callie's legs. She smiles to herself a little, seeing that Callie still has that habit. Slowly, she tries to pull her leg out of Callie's hold, but stops when she sees Callie squirm again. Like she needs to do something else, something more. She frowns down at the woman curled into her. Callie's face is still buried in Arizona's neck, but her hands have found a place on Arizona's front, clinging to the cloth of the shirt, and a blanket has tangled itself around her body. Callie gives off a feeling of almost being terribly uncomfortable.

A nightmare?

Arizona wouldn't want her to suffer from a nightmare, especially in her arms, especially on their first night together. She herself still, even if very seldomly, wake up panicked from a nightmare of a plane crashing or a lost forest, and she wouldn't wish her panicked morning (or middle of the nights) to anyone, especially Callie.

"Calliope."

Her whisper dies in the middle of the room. Arizona can't help but smile to herself again, she should've known better. Apart from a pager and Sofia, not much of anything else can wake Callie that easily.

Arizona shifts and pokes the head of hair tickling her chin. "Callie." Callie seems to have heard her for a second, and Arizona is greeted by a faint moan and a sharp intake of breath. Callie's hands clasp her shirt tighter, and her body jerks in an eager little jump.

When she's met with silence again, Arizona grunts slightly and pushes herself up to lean halfway against the headboard, retracting her leg from in between Callie's and shaking her shoulders gently. She hears another sharp inhale as she moves. "Calliope, wake up."

Callie groans.

"Calliope."

Arizona sees Callie's eyelids flutter and it seems like they were going to open for a second, but then Callie actively squeezes them shut tight and curls her body into itself. She's awake at least.

Just as she touches Callie's shoulders to pull her up a bit higher, Callie hoarsely mumbles, "Arizona…"

Arizona reaches down for her, and just as the blanket between her legs shift to Arizona's weight, Callie moans. "D-Don't."

Arizona freezes at the oh-so familiar sound. The nights she's spent listening to that voice doing exactly just that.

Arizona swallows harshly. In one swift motion, she hooks her hands under Callie's arms and hauls her up with a grunt, sitting up against the headboard straighter herself too. "Calliope."

Callie jerks involuntarily again and unsteadily exhales, through a clenched jaw, resolutely looking away from Arizona. In embarrassment? In self-control? Either way, Arizona is having none of it.

Arizona licks her lips at the confirmation of the nature of Callie's dream. She can't help but feeling her own body flush a notch warmer at the sight of Callie's unadulterated desire curling into itself.

"Callie…"

/

Callie blows out a slow breath. And Arizona can see her tensing and almost grounding into the sheets under her. When Arizona tries to lean closer, the blanket shifts and Callie whimpers so silently she wasn't even sure she heard it. But she did.

And as soon as the low sound leaves Callie, she finds herself straddling Arizona's lap. Planting her hands firmly on Callie's waist, Arizona pulls her in and joins them in a shattering kiss.

Callie's mind is still spinning with what her dream left her when Arizona's hands find their way to her hips and makes it spin even more. She can feel the heat under her shorts threatening to burst, already so painfully close where the sheets had pushed against it when Arizona had pulled her up. Moaning into Arizona's mouth, she fails to control the small jerks of her hips and grounds down. She can't care less if her actions leak of all her desperation.

She does desperately want Arizona. She does desperately need Arizona.

Arizona gathers all of her small bit of control to not throw Callie back onto the bed and fuck her senseless. That would be un-special. And Callie deserves special and everything more. Callie is more than anyone else. So much more.

But oh, Callie is quivering, straddling her, and shaking their kiss down to the core with her moans of the utmost neediness, and Arizona just needs to see Callie reaching that high because of her. For now, even if only for now, Callie is entirely, completely, unreservedly, hers.

"Calliope," Arizona rasps, resting her cheek against Callie's. She can feel the hotness reaching out through the skin of the other woman and lashing at her resolve.

Callie nods (or what she can manage as a nod in her state of mind) her consent. This is not quite reaching around the corner of something big. Something looming. And Callie's trying, she's trying so hard so control herself, but the need for Arizona to touch is too great.

Snaking a hand down between them to pull on Callie's shorts, she pauses when her fingertips brush at the soft skin under the hem of the shirt. One second to revel in the scorching body in her arms and one second to revel the edge of the precipice before they fall. This is special.

And then she yanks harshly.

Callie gives a sharp moan and clenches her hands over Arizona's shoulders. The one sharp tug of the flimsy cloth still covering her core whips out a blinding heat. Into helpless pleasure. Arizona watches as Callie throws her head back, her hips snapping up, once, twice, before going completely rigid. Arizona watches, with the help of a slimmer of light form streetlamps of the open window, Callie's parted lips and deeply flushed face losing all of its poise.

Arizona can't remember another anyone being so magnificent in the dark. She would watch Callie in this moment for the rest of her life if she could.

But Callie finally collapses into the crook of Arizona's neck, still shaking, still gasping for air, still trying to restart her lungs. And Arizona tightens her grip around Callie's waist and slides them down so that they are lying side by side, and she is holding Callie's helpless body in her arms, still quivering.

A cricket chirps somewhere outside the still open window and Callie stirs at last, her lips moving against the skin of Arizona's neck. "I'm sorry. That's really not how I wanted our first second time to be." She pauses and groans quietly, "Now I just sound like a kid."

Arizona laughs, her laughter rumbling in her chest and Callie can't help but smile as she feels the vibrations on her lips. "I'm not sorry. My ego is soaring right now, Calliope."

Callie tilts her head back, slowly and squints at Arizona. She's gotten rid of enough of her embarrassment to be able glare at Arizona jokingly.

"And that dream sounded good," Arizona adds, lowering her voice to a purr.

Callie lowers her gaze again, her face still flushed from that very dream. "Do we get a do-over for this too?"

"You seemed like you pretty thoroughly enjoyed that just now."

Callie rolls her eyes and blinks pleadingly up at Arizona. "But you didn't. I woke from a damn dream and it was not sexy."

"I think it was perfectly sexy."

"Come on, we got a do-over for the 'terribly average' first date in the hotel just to make-out. I want a do-over with this too."

Arizona smiles down at Callie.

She does understand a bit. She understands how Callie wants this to be more. It was what she had wished just minutes ago before they'd both let go of their control. Frankly, Arizona's had plenty of activities that would technically qualify with the three letters of 'sex', but she knows that Callie is more. Was more, is more, will be more. Callie gives it sense; lets her sees the point of kissing.

Sex is sex, flings are flings, girls are girls, but this desire is different because it's them.

"We can have as many do-overs as we want," Arizona whispers, "As long as it's with you. As long as it's us."

Arizona cocks her head down and presses a kiss to Callie's lips again. The point of kissing, when Arizona seems to step out of herself. She steps out of herself, and Callie is the only person she ever will remember touching.

Resting a hand on Callie's cheek, Arizona is almost scared to move any further, like Callie would shatter under her hand, like Callie is far too precious to be under her touch. Like Callie isn't like the rest of anyone else, because Callie really isn't.

Callie is still so gentle and entrancing, pulling Arizona in without trying. Callie is still such a soft and messy thing, and no one knows how to take care of her, but Arizona knows that she'll try harder than anyone's ever tried before.

Callie's eyelids flutter as she senses Arizona's hesitance. She appreciates it. She doesn't want to be just anyone to Arizona. She pushes her tongue gently against Arizona's, trying to let her know that she understands, that she knows, that she wants her.

When they break apart just a thread, Arizona sighs. She needed to know that Callie wanted this as much as her own body is screaming for it, and now that it's confirmed, she's sure as hell not waiting a second more.

She rolls Callie onto her back.

/

Callie stares up at Arizona's face hovering above her, looking like she's made of ivory and rose-tinted glass. It's all she makes out anyway, her vision is obscured by the warm breaths pouring over her ears and her own reckless desire. Grasping one of Arizona's hands planted next to her head, she guides it down and presses it against the drenched cloth of her shorts, trying desperately to show Arizona just how much she wants her. She moans softly as Arizona cups her scorching center; she's still feeling too much from her previous high.

Arizona licks her lips as she feels the wetness leaking through. And good lord, she loves it when her name comes out of Callie's mouth, squirming underneath her.

Gazing down, Callie is pulling in quick, shallow breaths with her hair sprawled out like ink spreading through the white sheets, looking like a damn angel sinning for the first time. And it just about fucking knocks Arizona out of all sane thinking.

She presses her hand harder just to see Callie throw her head back and jerk her hips up, helplessly seeking more. Leaning down at the newly exposed skin, she plants open-mouthed kisses along Callie's jaw, Callie's neck, Callie's collarbone, and finally stops at the spot where she can taste Callie's heartbeat. Giving it a nip, she reaches down and whisks the silky shorts off.

Leaning back, she throws off her own clothes, and is back on top of Callie in an instant, almost ripping the other woman's shirt off in her haste. Their skin, resting together, burns each other in the most exhilarating way. Burning away the night. Burning away the years.

And god, Callie is beautiful. Irresistibly, irrationally, tenderly, beautiful. Arizona doesn't quite have enough time as a mortal to appreciate just how amazing Callie is, spread out beneath her. She's just as beautiful as she was five years ago and ten months years ago and two minutes ago.

"W-Wait."

Arizona freezes. Millions of the possible things she'd done wrong rushes into her head. She watches as Callie reaches back for a small pillow and tucks it under her shorter left limb.

"Okay," Callie mumbles, turning her head back to Arizona, her eyelids fluttering unsteadily.

Arizona hovers above her.

And then, almost out of nowhere, she falls down and kisses Callie hard, demandingly, on the mouth. She hopes it can let Callie know how much her small gesture meant to her. How cared for Arizona feels. How good. How fucking amazing Callie doesn't realise she is.

It's weird, because she knows that she would've felt self-conscious about being reminded of her leg any other time. Even with Callie, a few years ago. But she's just fine right now. More than fine.

Arizona keeps their insistent mouths parted and together, like they're working on cracking open the whole damn sky, and finds one of Callie's hands, raising it to press a gentle kiss to the small crescent shaped scar on the forearm.

She laces their fingers together next to Callie's head.

Like a connection. That she's only now realised she's had, she's ever wanted, with Callie. Not with other flings she's encountered, even if she doesn't know why. But it's something that's apparently now privately appropriated by the two of them without Arizona even knowing, and she's completely okay with it.

Whatever it is that makes intimacy so very disturbing, it softens itself when she's with Callie, and it's great, almost greater than life itself. Callie's legs fall apart under her, letting her settle in between. Apparently, she's seeking that closeness too. Arizona hooks her free hand under Callie's knee, spreading her legs wider, and lowers herself down. Sex against sex. Heat against heat.

Need against need.

Arizona licks a path up Callie's jaw and plants sloppy kisses on the corner of Callie's lips. She's determinedly going slowly. She can't keep this moment alive long enough. Longer and longer, but this chunk in time will still not be long enough. And whatever muscle memory exists, it exists for them. It's finally them, together, again, and everything moves as they should, as they did.

Her bruised lips involuntarily quirk as she hears a moan digging its way out of Callie's throat. "Shh, Calliope," she rasps, "Quietly."

Pulling her bottom lip in between her teeth, Callie only manages to nod stiffly as Arizona thrusts down again. She is nothing but her body now, and everything else that Arizona isn't touching is either not existing or disappearing in smoke. Body, sweat, want, desire.

No time passes, no plane crashes happen, and no moving to New York; Arizona has a gravity that is pulling Callie out of this world, to somewhere only the two of them are alive.

She gasps silently and digs her head back into the sheets as Arizona thrusts down, again, again, and again, whispering hoarse words into her ear.

"You're beautiful, Calliope…" She tightens her grip on Arizona's firm hand pressing down into her's, muffling another moan against Arizona's neck now slick with sweat. "You're so soft…" Callie wraps her legs around Arizona's waist as Arizona's gentle thrusting slowly turns into an erratic pounding and she pants out in Callie's ear, "God, and I've missed this…" Callie gasps for air and tugs on Arizona's hair until they meet in another sloppy kiss, letting Arizona swallow her moans, her hips bucking uncontrollably up to meet her. They break apart and Callie throws her head back again, digging into the sheets with Arizona hovering just barely above her, a tear breaks loose and slides down to her chin.

Unsteadily, Arizona leans down again, kissing down its salty path, kissing away the tear. And then she murmurs, "Let go, Calliope, let go."

And Callie lets go.

She slams into a blind high, stiffening so wildly and inelegantly, that she actually, uncannily, looks like something ethereal and out of this world.

To Arizona, at least. Only Arizona gets to see her in this moment, sex and heart tuned to the same beat.

Somewhere between her wild little cries, Callie finds the thought to blindly bring her hand up to Arizona's chest, grazing a stiff nipple. Arizona grounds out a low "Mmm…fuck." at the sight of Callie writhing under her, and barely holds on until her own body arches and tumbles down.

/

Callie pokes a hole through her haze and registers Arizona panting in her ear, her hands still holding onto Arizona's back, and the whole of Arizona's still covering her, almost protectively. She carefully moves her legs down from around Arizona's waist and lowers them on the bed. When Arizona slides down to the side and gathers Callie's into her front and pulls up the covers, Callie sighs the pleasure of feeling completely boneless into the crook of Arizona's neck, where she's settled herself again.

Feeling a nudge on her side where Arizona is holding her, Callie raises her head to meet Arizona's inquisitive gaze. By some strange telepathy they might've developed over the years (or something less farfetched, like the question written all over Arizona's concerned face), Callie shakes her head. "I'm okay. I just missed you…missed this…" she swallows and plays with the soft hair of Arizona's neck for a second, "Missed everything with you too much."

Arizona smiles sadly back at her and brings a hand up to wipe at the wetness on Callie's cheek. "I've missed you too."

Callie sighs as feels Arizona's arms tighten around her. "Do you think Sof heard us? I feel kinda bad."

"Us? Nah," Arizona chuckles, raising an eyebrow smugly. "You? Maybe."

"Ugh, shut up."

"Mm. We'll find a time where you can scream my name as loud as you want."

Callie rolls her eyes against Arizona's neck. "Narcissist."

Arizona chuckles again, pressing a kiss to Callie's forehead. "Goodnight, Calliope."

Callie smiles lazily against the sweaty skin despite herself and kisses Arizona's salty jaw. "Goodnight, Arizona." Because good nights come when she's with Arizona, just like good mornings come when she gets to see Arizona.

Everything is good, everything is well, and they are together.

PART II - BE STILL MY HEART

The Postal Service

"And I thought, be still my heart

This could be a brand new start with you

And it will be clear, if I wake up and you're still here

With me, in the morning."

Strangely, the scrapes on her knee were again the first thing Callie felt in the morning.

And none of what happened was a dream. Not a dream.

Her eyes are still closed and she can still feel the sheets that have tangled themselves in her legs again, still recognize the slightly chilly breeze interrupting the heat that lasted on her skin. Her nose is cold, but her body is warm. She's sure she forgot to close the window last night, like she always did.

If she starts her mornings like this, then all is right with the world. Even if only for the morning, but she has a name that someone wants to call and wine that someone wants to drink, and a bed that they can sleep in, and really, everything is so perfectly alright right now.

"Calliope."

Callie hums in response. She smiles in her groggy place between sleep and reality when she feels a warm arm draping over her middle. Reality can wait for a few seconds to crash in.

Arizona lips brushes against her cheek and Callie hums again as she feels the corners of Arizona's mouth twitch and smile into her skin. If she tries hard enough, she can still feel Arizona's sweaty skin pressing down against hers, and their hands clamped together next to her head.

"Mmm." Callie rolls over and curls into Arizona, hiding her face in the soft skin of her chest, ignoring Arizona's quiet voice whispering her name.

"Calliope. We have work today."

"No."

She feels Arizona's chest rumbling with a chuckle. "No?"

"No."

"If it were that easy, then I would've kept you in bed for weeks on end."

Callie groans and rolls onto her back. "Fine. What time is it?" The body beside her moves away to check the phones on the nightstand. Shuffling forward, she curls up around Arizona's back and passes her arms around her, pulling herself closer and burrowing into the last bit of warmth left from the night.

"It's…" Arizona flips over her phone and squints at the bright screen. "OH MY—SIX FIFTY— Calliope get UP." Swinging off the bed and bringing Callie with her, who lands with a thump on the carpeted floor. "Oh crap," Arizona leans down and presses a quick kiss to Callie's forehead, "Sorry." And then she goes rushing to the other side of the room, swearing under her breath.

"Six fifty…" Callie eyes open wide and she shoots up, "Our shifts start at seven, right?"

Arizona is already tearing into Callie's dresser, searching for clothes. "Yes! We're going to be late!" Pausing her furious searching, she cranes her head and shouts down the hall. "SOFIA!"

"Thank god Sofia's school doesn't start until eight thirty," Callie grumbles as she shoots off the floor and throws her own clothes on.

She raises her head and meet Arizona's eyes across the room, and despite their terrible timing, they smile at each other with a moment of silent miracle. Getting dressed together in the morning again is a quiet bout of wonder that is only this great when it's happening. Looking at Arizona, Callie can tell that Arizona is reliving the infinities of last night too, of the wild and deadly pleasure that had burst between these very walls.

And then a groan that sounds impossibly like Callie's makes itself known from the other room, accompanied by a light 'thump' and yet another groan, making Arizona muffle a laugh against her hand.

"Well, Sofia's up," Callie says, breaking their small trance and giggling. "We'll have to ask Mer to drop her off with Zola, it's too early for the school to be open anyway."

/

Arizona ended up wearing the same shirt she did yesterday, and gulping down an excess amount of coffee, sitting on the front seat on Callie's car.

"Do I dare to check the time, Arizona?"

Glancing at the time on the console, she snorts. "Not if you don't want to crash the car. You get jumpy when you're late."

"Yeah, you're right. Plus, I have that—TURN GREEN, YOU STUPID LIGHT—big surgery this afternoon."

"The hand-building one again?"

Arizona looks at Callie a little amusedly as she answers without stopping her glare at the stoplights. "Yeah, poor dude crushed his hand in a leaf blower like thingy."

"You'll rock it. You've built like, three hands already in your career?"

"Yup," Callie says proudly, "'Cause I'm the ortho goddess. I rock."

Arizona rolls her eyes with a grin and shoves another mouthful of coffee down her throat.

They scramble out of the car as Callie slams the doors close. With a brisk walk that borders dangerously on jogging, they rush in the direction of the glass double doors. Feeling a little nervous, from their lateness or her surgery in the afternoon, Callie doesn't know. The early July morning is in a free fall onto everything she sees, and she counts the things she can see, hoping it will calm her a little.

It doesn't.

But it did make her feel better when her own coffee sloshed a bit over the rims of the cup from their pace, and Arizona giggled. Rolling her eyes, Callie counts the trees standing uneasily with missing branches. She counts the pigeons pecking aimlessly at the asphalt. She counts everything she loves about this place, and she counts Arizona in.

And strangely, that didn't scare her.

She guesses she loves Arizona.

And that's that.

Arizona holds the door open for her as she steps into the cool hospital air, and she grins. She's excited. Arizona pulls out a napkin to wipe at the bit of coffee on her wrist, and she feels infinitely bold.

She doesn't really know exactly where they're going, but they're on their way. Callie can't say the words just yet, but she knows she will be able to. One day.

Arizona turns to Callie before she walks off to her peds ward. "I'll meet you for lunch?"

Callie nods. "Of course. Thanks for the napkin."

"Anytime."

The sweetness, the lingering sweetness, of last night mingles with that of this morning and rushes to Callie's head, like one glass too many of champagne that makes the whole world look like sunshine.

Maybe, if Callie is honest, she is just a little bit afraid, because Arizona comes closer and kisses the corner of her mouth gently when she saw that no one was around.

The very same way Callie remembers she was a little afraid on a particular Saturday night back in New York, leaning against the fogging window of a bus stop and sipping a day-old Monster she found in the trunk of her car. The bus came and it started raining a little and Callie had suddenly wondered whether Arizona was up, or if she was sleeping in late. And then she wondered whose covers she would be under.

And then she recoiled from herself, a tad closer to terrified, because she had just broken up with Penny.

Thinking about Arizona brought her back to how wonderful loving someone could be.

And she knows, she had promised herself, on a whim of wariness and fear after she had walked out of that therapy session so long ago, that she wouldn't fall for Arizona, ever, so hopelessly again.

But it's a little past seven on a July morning, and they're late to work because they had sex the night before. She's grinning a little too hard at Arizona, and this is the happiest she's been in such a long time. She's already pretty much screwed.

She loves Arizona.