Once checked into their hotel Callie and Arizona had a simple plan - they were heading for the beach. They had booked 4 nights in at a luxury hotel near the old town of Ibiza with its own private beach.
Quickly changing into their bikini's, they grabbed their sun cream, books and made their way down to grab one of the cabanas where they intended on falling asleep to the sound of the sea lapping the shore. Their antics in Paris had caught up with them and they needed sleep.
"As fun as Paris was..." Arizona said as she rubbed sun cream on Callie's back "I don't think I could do it again...I mean...we're in our mid 30's...we're respectable surgeons"
Callie laughed in agreement "what happened in Paris...stays in Paris...it was a crazy 24 hours...and I don't regret it...but fuck me...I'm soooo tired" the two women laughed at the state of each other as they settled down on the sun bed and settled into a comfortable silence as they felt the heat from the sun on their skins and a gentle breeze.
They spent the next couple of hours reading their books, dozing in the sun and talking about their plans for the next leg of their holiday.
That evening they ordered room service and ate outside their villa overlooking the twinkling lights of old Ibiza town.
"Do you remember the time we spent the night in Derek's caravan?" Callie asked
"Of course!" Arizona beamed back "I thought you were taking me camping on Valentine's Day...I really didn't want to go camping, but I really liked you, I was so relieved when we went inside and you had decorated it with candles and fairy lights and there was a bed..." Arizona paused there and gave Callie a knowing look as she remembered the sexy underwear and their night together.
"This reminds me a bit of that night" Callie explained "it was so good to get away from everyone and the bustle of life and spend a night in the woods. I have the same feeling now here...with you...I needed this Arizona."
Arizona smiled and leant in and gave Callie a kiss on her lips.
"Mmmmmm You know what I need?"
Arizona asked playfully bitting Callie's lower lip before standing up and started unbuttoning the buttons down the front of her dress
"YOU. NAKED. In that pool" she winked as she walked towards their plunge pool.
Callie willingly followed the blonde as she watched Arizona slip out of her dress, leaving her just in her underwear, which quickly joined the dress on the floor. Callie thought Arizona was stunningly beautiful as she stood there completely naked, lit by the moonlight above them. She took her breath away as she slowly walked down the steps into the pool, turning to see what Callie was doing, smiling as she saw the Latina frozen to the spot, mouth open as she watched.
"What's keeping you Torres?" Arizona called over her shoulder as she ducked under water and swam to the edge of the pool where she came up for air before resting her arms on the side of the pool as she took in the view.
Callie quickly took off her clothes and swam up to join Arizona. "God this is heaven isn't it?" Arizona purred as she took in the stars overhead.
"Sure is" Callie said in agreement".
Callie couldn't help but notice that Arizona's nipples were stiff as they floated in the cool water, Arizona smirked as she caught her girlfriend checking out her tits "you are just like Mark Sloan...boob obsessed" she laughed
Callie blushed a little at having been caught looking at those erect nipples, imagining them in her mouth, running her tongue over them, sucking them and biting them til Arizona moaned in pleasure.
"Hey that's not fair..." Callie said eventually pulling herself out of her thoughts "...I'll have you know I'm also totally obsessed with your arse as well" Arizona laughed at Callie's come back.
"Well that's alright then" she smiled and melted as she looked into Callie's big brown eyes.
Callie let go of the side of the pool and slid behind Arizona naked body, placing her arms around the blondes waist and rested her chin on her shoulder.
"Well hello" Arizona said she felt Callie's naked body up against her, felt her mound brush against her arse as Callie's arms slipped around her waist.
Their villa was completely private and Callie intended on making the most of their privacy as she slowly started moving her hand down Arizona's body.
The next day they hired bikes and set off exploring the island. They found a beautiful small beach and threw down their towels to enjoy the sunshine, dipping in the sea to cool down.
For lunch they had discovered a great seafood restaurant where they had eaten the best calamari in their lives, so fresh having been caught that morning.
They enjoyed a bottle of rose wine and chilled and watched the world go by. It was nice to be able to unwind and not have the pressure of their demanding jobs. Arizona commented that she hadn't had a proper holiday for about 2 years and she realised how much she needed this.
"Did you not go away with Wendy?" Callie had asked, making Arizona think about her ex for the first time in a while.
"We had a couple of weekends away, but that was it. Her parents had a place at Cannon Beach and invited us for the weekend"
"Wow you met the parents!" Callie added not realising the relationship had been at that stage.
"Yeah...they were really lovely...both high school teachers who were clearly very proud of their daughter."
"Have you heard from her?" Callie found herself asking
Arizona shook her head "nope...I didn't treat her very fairly, so I don't think it would have been right for me to try and keep in touch...not my place"
"I understand that." Callie said, pausing before adding "I know I wanted to call you so many times when I left for LA...just to hear your voice"
Arizona looked directly as Callie and smiled softly "me too" she admitted. "I was miserable for months after we split, and I know I drove everyone mad...Alex of all people was the one who told me to sort myself out."
Callie smiled, the boy sure had changed as she thought of the first time they had met when he was a resident alongside Christina, Meredith, Izzy and George. Poor George O'Malley. God that seemed like a life time ago.
Just then Callie's phone started ringing and a smile formed on her face as she saw the caller ID was Carlos, Aria's widow
"Hola Carlos" Callie asked excitedly as she started chatting in Spanish to her brother-in-law, before her niece excitedly joined the call. Callie spoke quickly in Spanish and Arizona could only make out a few words here and then before she heard her name mentioned
"Si, Si ella está aquí con ne" Callie mouthed the word sorry to Arizona as she pulled the blonde towards the screen to greet Carlos and his daughter "Arizona!" Carlos said warmly "it's nice to meet you"
"And you, Carlos and it's super nice to meet you Rose.
Callie watched as the little girl shyly whispered something to her dad who then smiled and said "'my daughter said you are very, very pretty"
Arizona's dimples popped as she smiled back at the screen at the little girl who had her arms tucked tightly around her fathers neck.
"Thank you Rose. You are very pretty too. I love your braids, they are very sophisticated." Callie smiled as she watched Arizona interact with her niece, she was so good with children, knew exactly how to speak to them. It had been such a shock when Arizona had said that she didn't ever wants kids. Everything had been good with them it just seemed a natural step and Callie had pushed hard to try and make Arizona change her mind, which she realised afterwards hadn't been fair.
"Are you having a good time?" Carlos asked
"The best" Arizona smiled "hey Rose do you know in Spain that in the afternoon people go home from work to have a siesta. How cool is that!"
"Really? Like when I was younger?"
"Exactly"
"Sooo cool. Daddy I think we should have siestas every day!"
"Oh you do do you!" He laughed pulling his daughter in and planting a kiss on the top of her head.
"Listen, we'll let you guys get back to your holiday, Rose was just desperate to say hello. It was lovely to meet you Arizona. I hope we can meet in person soon"
"I hope so too" Arizona said smiling as Callie.
As soon as the call ended, Arizona saw the tears start to form in Callie's eyes and pulled her into her arms.
"I miss Aria and my mum so much" Callie said softly
"It's OK Callie" Arizona said pulling her closer "it's OK to miss them. It's OK to think about them and cry...they were your family...and they died...too soon...and nothing changes that".
"When did it get easier for you? Callie asked
"Ummm well I was a mess for a long time, I had some pretty serious anger issues that I needed to get fixed"
"Really?" Callie asked surprised to hear that about Arizona who had always seemed so calm, so together.
"I was angry with the stupid fucking government for the stupid fucking war, I was angry at myself for not calling him more, for not telling him I...I love...loved him more often"
Arizona pulled back so she could look at Callie, lent in and wiped away the tears from her cheeks.
"Grief affects everyone differently Callie...there is no one way of dealing with it, no right way...you just have to accept it, live with it and deal with it when it comes, and eventually, slowly you get stronger to deal with the memories when they hit you."
"You are very wise" Callie said as she smiled at the beautiful blonde face smiling back at her.
"Yes Calliope Torres...I am, and don't you forget it" she smiled and lent in and placed her lips on her girlfriends.
After four days of pampering, sunbathing, relaxing they both felt so much better. Arizona claimed to have eaten her weight in Croquette's "I'm soooo made for Spain" she joked "I mean these past few days have been amazing...what's not to love? sun, sea, sangria, sex...lots of amazing hot sex"
"Well FYI the hot sex isn't just restricted to Spain" Callie said raising an eyebrow as they planned their next part of their trip in Italy.
On their last night they had eaten out before deciding to drink the rest of their wine back to their room.
Callie looked at Arizona and thought she looked so cute in her smart little shorts that showed off her stunning legs and a blue top that complemented her eyes. The sun had given Arizona some freckles on her nose and all Callie wanted to was lean in and kiss them...so she did.
"I didn't think it was possible for you to look any cuter, but then you got freckles" Callie smiled as she leant in and kissed Arizona's nose. "Urgh I hate them.." Arizona complained "they make me feel like a kid"
Callie pulled a face "are you kidding me? They are super cute..."
"But what if I didn't wanna be cute" Arizona asked "what if I wanted to be sexy. And hot" she asked seriously
Callie laughed "You are cute, but trust me you are also smoking hot." Callie lent in to whisper "let me show you how hot you are"
Arizona caught her breath a little as she felt Callie's hand take hers and slip it underneath the waistband of her trousers and straight into her soaking wet panties.
"Ohhhh you are wet" Arizona purred
"What can I say? You and your freckles did this. So what do you intend to do to fix the problem?" Callie asked and raised an eyebrow sexily.
Next stop was Rome where they were staying for three nights. Callie had arranged to meet an old friend of hers from her time in the Peace Corps. Luca was from Chicago originally and had moved to Italy nearly 10 years ago after meeting and falling in love with an Italian he had met in Botswana. Matteo was a photographer who was in Botswana on a assignment and Callie had been there the night they had first met. It literally was love at first sight for the two of them and they had spent the whole night just talking. By the morning they knew that they were each others soul mates and basically that was it. Matteo flew back to Rome and Luca finished his time in the Peace Corps and they wrote letters to each other every day. Luca's parents were originally from Italy, having come over to the States in the 60's. They were super religious and didn't know that Luca was gay.
Callie thought it was the most romantic thing in the world as she watched her friend fall head over heels in love with a man he hadn't even kissed. Luca moved to Italy and had become a successful sociology academic at one of the Universities in Rome, and had remained in contact with Callie over the years. Callie was excited to see Luca and Matteo again and for them to meet Arizona.