Written after 12x07.

"April mentioned you went to a girlbar," Callie began awkwardly, attempting to sound casual.

Arizona offered a smile as she looked up at her ex-wife, but even Callie could see that it was forced. "Yeah. You've managed to move on. I figured I should give it a shot."

Callie knit her eyebrows together. What did that mean? Had Arizona not given "it a shot" until now? Then, perhaps a little too eagerly, she asked, "How'd it go?"

Arizona attempted to muster up a smile. "Great," she swore. In fact, no, it hadn't gone great. As good of a wingman as Richard had – surprisingly – ended up being, it had ended up being her who had held herself back.

Because as good as she was at flirting, at laughing, and at winning over women, she couldn't help but feel like it was all so forced. And – as cute as the women had been – something had just been missing.

A spark, maybe. Enough chemistry for her to want – to need – to take them home, the way she'd once felt with Callie.

Something had just been…missing. But she was putting herself out there. And that was a start.

"Great," Callie agreed, her voice rising an octave. "That's…" she paused, smiling at her ex-wife. "Great."

She felt weird, though. For some reason, her stomach had sunk in a strange way that she hadn't experienced in a long time. Why? This was good! Arizona moving on – them both finding happiness with other people…It was good. Her stomach must have been having other issues.

It wasn't until later that afternoon that Arizona finally tracked April down in the bathroom, needing to vent to her some more.

"I just don't know what's wrong!" she exclaimed. "I don't know why it feels so wrong!"

"Jackson and I had sex last night," April admitted, cutting directly into Arizona's frustrated ramble.

"I…" Arizona shook her head. "What?"

Arizona bit her lip and nodded. "And it was good. It was awesome. But I just felt awful afterwards, and he just turned away. It was supposed to be good! But now I feel like with further than ever."

"I don't know what to say," Arizona regretted.

April huffed. "I know. Me neither." She shook her head, clearing it. "You were saying the girlbar didn't go well?"

"It did go well!" Arizona argued. "But something was missing!"

"Callie?" April asked. Just like that.

"What?" Arizona's eyes shot to her best friend. Where had that come from?

"I don't know!" April defended. "You've been weird when you've talked about her lately. Are there maybe still feelings there?"

"What?" Arizona couldn't seem to make any other words.

April shrugged silently, letting Arizona work through it.

"I…I…" she began disjointedly. She couldn't think about this. Even if there still were feelings – and the sudden pain in her stomach was telling her that there were – it didn't matter. "She's with Penny. She's happy." It was the only defense Arizona had. It was all she knew.

And if Callie was happy, then she wasn't going to disrupt that. Not after she'd suffocated her ex-wife for so long.

April released a loud sigh, hating her life that day but hoping that everything wouldn't stay sour for Arizona. "If you love her, then you should fight for her. It's not working that well for me, but you two are different. And you never left."

She had, though. Emotionally, she had.

It didn't matter. She wasn't going to approach Callie and risk her ex walking away, again. After everything, she wouldn't be able to bear it. "Maybe you're right. But I can't just tell her. She feels 'free' without me, remember?"

April nodded and, dejectedly, they both headed out of the empty public restroom and back to work.

What they had failed to realize was that the restroom, in fact, hadn't been empty.

Scared to even breathe, Callie had been locked in one of the many stalls when the pair had walked in.

And she had heard everything.

"Penny!" Callie called, tracking down her girlfriend later that day.

The redhead turned around. "Callie," she breathed, relieved to see her. She'd been a bitch the day before. She owed her girlfriend an apology.

"Hey," Callie shifted from foot to foot.

"Listen…" Penny began, ready to grovel. She had been out of line. Honest, but still. It hadn't been right to explode at Callie, especially when she had just been trying to help. Before she continued, though, Callie interrupted.

"I don't think we should do this."

Penny's face bleached white. "What?"

"You and I," Callie explained. "It doesn't seem like we're working."

"No," Penny interrupted. God, this wasn't what she wanted. They'd only had an argument! "I'm sorry about earlier, and…"

Callie shook her head. "This isn't about earlier. I just…I need time to think about what I want. I'm sorry."

Penny nodded slowly, understanding. She was being dumped. And there was nothing she could do about it.

"I'm still for you. For anything you need."

She needed to think, though. About what she heard. About what she felt.

Was it possible that Arizona still…wanted to be with her? And was it possible that she felt the same?

Was it possible that they could work, if they tried again?

Weeks passed, and Arizona felt like she was sitting on her hands. She'd felt antsy for days. Because – the more she thought about it – the more she yearned for Callie.

Callie was the most amazing, magical, beautiful woman she'd ever known, and she'd never been scared to admit that.

What she was realizing then, though, was the painful truth that, maybe, she didn't have to move on.

Well, she had to, for sanity's sake. Because Callie was with Penny.

But she could also be honest with herself about the fact that Callie perhaps always would be the most amazing, magical, and beautiful woman.

Maybe, she'd be able to find someone else but never anyone better.

And that thought was so freakin' painful because it made her not even want to look. Because there, walking towards her, was her true love. Her only true love.

And, yet, she needed to move on. Just as Callie successfully had.

"Hey," Callie offered a bright smile as she walked past her, grabbing a chart from the nurses' station.

"Hi," Arizona chirped awkwardly. God, she needed to get over this. She couldn't just ache over Callie forever.

"What, um," Callie bit her lip, hesitantly meeting intense blue eyes. God, they were really, really blue. "What are you doing tonight?"

Arizona's eyebrows flew up to the ceiling. "Um…"

Callie pushed on. "Because I was wondering if, maybe, you'd want to have dinner with Sof and I? As a family, maybe?"

Working to keep the shock off her features, Arizona nodded slowly. "Sure. Dinner sounds great."

Callie exhaled a relieved sigh, smiling. How did Arizona still make her so nervous? "Great. Just come by as soon as your shift ends."

"Sure," she nodded and watched as Callie hurried away. What the hell had just happened?

Arizona's shift ended at five, but she didn't end up going to Callie's right away. Instead, she went home herself, showered, tried on six different nearly identical outfits, and then finally headed towards her ex-wife's. She brought a bottle of wine along with her, for the sake of politeness. The gesture was microcosmic for their relationship in general, these days; they were polite. Just polite.

They were people who used to mean everything to one another, and now they were simply polite.

And if Arizona hadn't had that conversation with April, it might not have bothered her. In fact, she may have been impressed at their maturity. But now, she couldn't stop thinking about them meaning everything to one another once again.

She loved Callie more than anyone. Even now.

Slowly, she stepped up to the door of Callie's new house, hesitantly knocking on the door. She'd been there before. Many times. But it still felt oddly unfamiliar. After all, it was Callie's house, as opposed to one they shared.

Mere seconds later, the door was thrown open, and she was met with Sofia grinning up at her. "Hi, Mommy."

"Hey, sweetie," Arizona gushed, letting herself in and running her fingers through her daughter's silky black hair. "Where's your mom?" Together, they headed towards the kitchen, but the blonde made a point of looking at her surroundings, searching for anything new.

Every time she was inside this house, she felt like she was looking around for signs of Penny moving in. It was silly. She knew it was silly. As far as she knew, Callie and her girlfriend were nowhere near that involved.

But, still. A part of her expected that day to come. Soon.

"Mommy's here!" Sofia sing-songed as she trotted into the kitchen, Arizona trailing behind her with trepidation.

"Oh, good!" Callie grinned at their little girl, wiping her hands on a dishtowel. Then, she brought her eyes up to Arizona. "Hi," she breathed, a shadow of a smile still pulling at her features.

"Hi," Arizona smiled. God, since when were Callie's eyes such a pretty shade of brown?

Ugh. Since forever. She knew that.

"Um. I, uh, brought wine!" she exclaimed, holding the bottle out to Callie.

"Great," Callie chirped, taking the bottle. "Thank you!"

Arizona smiled. "Can I help you with anything?"

Callie shook her head, assuring her ex, "Everything's almost ready."

Sofia looked up at Arizona and exclaimed, "Mommy! I made you a picture at preschool today."

"You did?" Arizona cooed excitedly as Callie contently looked on. "Can you show me?"

"Mhmm," Sofia nodded, immediately grabbing the blonde's hand and leading her towards her room.

"I want to see, too!" Callie called after them, hoping Sofia would bring the picture back to show her.

Once in Sofia's room, the little girl ran towards her backpack to get out the painting she'd done that morning. Proudly, she held it out towards Arizona, who moved onto the bed so that they could look at it together.

"What did you paint, Sof?" she asked as she took in the bright colors, concentric circles, and blob-ish looking figures.

Nestled beside her, Sofia pointed at the figures, identifying them. "I'm here, in the pink dress; you're in the middle, in the blue dress; and Mommy's over there, in the red dress."

"Wow," Arizona admired appreciatively, trying to further decipher the image. "What are we doing? Are those our heads?"

"Um hum," Sofia nodded.

"Why are they on top of each other?"

"We're hugging, Mommy!" Sofia explained, giggling at how slow to catch on her mother was.

"You always say 'I love you' when you hug me goodnight," Sofia further embellished. "And Mommy says families love each other. And we're a family, right?"

Arizona looked down into those curious big brown eyes and didn't hesitate a moment before promising, "Yes. We're a family, sweetie." Because – in all honesty – Callie would always be family to her. Even if they were worlds apart.

"Dinner's ready, ladies!" Callie called from the other room.

"Come on," Arizona stood up, pulling Sofia along with her. "How about we go show this awesome masterpiece to your mom?"

Sofia nodded eagerly, skipping towards the kitchen as an amused Arizona followed behind her, carrying the painting.

"Sit wherever," Callie invited, handing Arizona a glass of wine as Sofia sat at her usual spot at the four-person square table.

Arizona chose to sit to the side of Callie and across from her daughter. They easily fell into conversation as they began to eat, and for both women, the scene felt oddly familial.

Not to say that they weren't a family, because – as Arizona had sworn – they were.

But she and Callie were divorced, and the dinner felt familial in a routine, normal-happy-family kind of way.

Because, more than feeling familial, it felt right.

Which was wrong, Arizona thought. Because it shouldn't have felt right. Because Callie had walked away. And she'd moved on. And she was dating Penny.

Beside her, Callie was having her own internal breakdown. How was she going to tell Arizona everything she wanted – and needed – to say? The conversation she'd overheard let her know that her ex-wife would likely respond in kind, but still. What if she didn't? And what if both them still loving each other wasn't enough?

Deciding to ruse herself from her intimidating thoughts, Callie began, "What's this picture you painted, Sof? Can you show me?"

"Oh, yeah!" Sofia scrambled off her chair to grab the painting Arizona had set on the counter then handed it to Callie.

Her eyes narrowed as she attempted to take it in. It was certainly colorful. And abstract. She noted a circle with yellow lines protruding from it – presumably Arizona's head. There were also two circles surrounded with black lines – presumably her and Sofia.

Callie curiously looked towards Arizona. She was going to need a little more explanation than that. "Is this us?"

Arizona nodded, a playful smile lighting up her face. She cocked her head towards Sofia. "Explain it, Sof."

"It's our family!" Sofia explained. "We're all hugging because of love."

"Because of love, huh?" Callie smirked. God, there little girl was so cute that she almost couldn't bear it.

Sofia nodded. "Because you love Mommy and me and Mommy loves you and me and I love you!"

Instinctually, Arizona felt herself stiffen as her eyes cut to Callie's reaction of hearing their daughter's innocent insistence that they loved each other. Even hearing the words made her heart explode in her chest, and more than anything, they made her ache to say them aloud. And even more so, they made her panic.

But Callie didn't react in the way of correcting Sofia or by appearing uncomfortable. In fact, Arizona noticed that she looked surprisingly serene – which seemed odd.

And she didn't seem to be having any sort of adverse physiological reaction, which only worked to reaffirm to Arizona how alone she was in this. How much Callie had moved on.

She's done, the blonde reminded herself. Done. Done. Donezo. She's been done for two years. She left. Somewhere along the way, you screwed everything up, and then she stopped wanting you.

Stop wanting her.

Arizona couldn't stop. Freakin' April had forced her to come to terms with the fact that Callie still had a hold on her heart.

"I love it," Callie finally vowed, offering Sofia her proudest smile. "It's beautiful, baby."

Sofia grinned back, responding with a polite, "Thank you," just as her moms had taught her.

Once they'd finished dinner and worked together to clear the table, Callie excused Sof. She needed to talk to Arizona.

"Sof, why don't you go watch an episode of Scooby Doo before bed?" she suggested. "Mommy and I need to talk."

Sofia eagerly nodded, suddenly excitedly wiggling around like a little puppy. TV before bed was an exciting prospect. Especially on a school night.

Callie lifted her eyes to Arizona's alarmed face. Why did she look so terrified? "I'll be right back," she assured her softly. "I'm just going to get her set up."

Hesitantly, Arizona nodded. What did Callie want to talk about? Did she want to take things to the next level with Penny? Was she moving away? Was she going to work at a more renowned hospital? It could have been anything.

Forcing herself to calm down, Arizona began slowly pacing around the kitchen as she worked to slow her rampant heart. She was fine. Everything would be fine.

"Hey," Callie welcomed carefully as she walked back into the kitchen. "Are you okay?"

Arizona jumped. "Oh. Hey. Yeah."

Callie's lips turned up. She was oddly endeared by the woman's anxiety. Even then, Arizona managed to surprise her.

A shaky breath escaped Arizona's lips as Callie stepped closer, them both awkwardly standing beside the kitchen island. "Thanks for dinner."

Callie smiled. "Thanks for coming," she replied honestly. She licked her lips, unsure of where to begin. She had no idea how to articulate what she had realized: that she still loved Arizona with all of her heart. That she wanted to be with her again. That walking away had been necessary for her – and them both – at the time, but now, they had a chance. They had more than a chance, maybe.

Because she was willing to do anything to make them work this time around. And if Arizona felt the same…

There was no way they wouldn't make it.

"I need to tell you something."

Arizona's eyes widened as she felt her stomach clench. She wanted to run for the hills, but she didn't. Instead, she waited.

Because as terrified as she was to hear what the woman she loved was going to say, she also needed to hear it. She needed to know. Everything. Anything. All of it.

"We've been…separated for two years," Callie began awkwardly.

Arizona slowly nodded. It was true.

"And it's given us time to think about what we both want – individually. Right?"

"Right," Arizona breathed.

Callie bit her lip. "A few weeks ago…" she paused. "I heard you. In the restroom. With April." She watched as a myriad of emotions flew across Arizona's face: from confusion to a sobering understanding as her face blanched white.

Her voice a mere whisper, Callie revealed, "And you're wrong. I don't feel free without you."

Arizona shook her head, biting back her emotions. Weakly, she began, "You have Penny…"

Callie shook her head. "I don't. I don't want to be with her."

Again, blue eyes bulged, and Callie released a nervous chuckle. How did they still hold so much power over each other? All she wanted to do was wrap her arms around Arizona reassuringly and let her know that they would be okay. That they were okay. That Callie loved her with all her heart.

She sighed. "Have you…been with anyone? Since we split?"

The last thing Arizona had expected was to hear that question. But Callie had asked her. Point blank. Of course. She always managed to surprise her. Then, she took a breath. "No. I was busy. And then I was hurting. And then I thought I was ready, and I tried, but…"

Callie felt butterflies flutter in her stomach, even having expected those words given the conversation she'd overheard. Hearing her assumption confirmed. It was crazy. It was almost unbelievable.

Arizona had cheated on her. And what had almost hurt worse was that she hadn't even made attempts at retribution afterwards. She'd instead opted to sleep with a resident because she'd been lonely.

Before her, Arizona had been a player. Women had loved her, and she'd loved them. Callie knew that.

So her being alone, and single, and celibate for all this time was almost incomprehensible. But it also worked to prove to Callie that everything Arizona had said was still true.

That she needed – and wanted – only her, to be happy. Apparently, it had been true before. And maybe, just maybe, it was true then, too.

Realizing she hadn't responded to Arizona's confession, Callie finally pressed, "Why?" She knew that the blonde had already given her an answer, but still, she wanted to know more. She wanted to know everything.

Arizona shrugged helplessly, shifting her gaze to her feet. Then, carefully, she brought her eyes back to Callie's. "You're my true love," she swore. "I don't want to settle for anyone else."

Callie felt her breath hitch. In surprise, in alarm, in awe. She was Arizona's true love. And Arizona was most definitely hers. Still, half-jokingly – even despite the tension – she joked, "I thought you didn't believe in true loves."

"I didn't," Arizona agreed, smiling wistfully, thinking back to the debate they'd had so long ago. "Until you. You…changed everything." She couldn't deny it. Callie had changed her in innumerable ways. Callie had changed her dreams, her heart, her very reasons for living.

"You're my true love," Callie breathed in reply. It was true. "And do you know what I still want more than anything?" She felt her body buzzing. Positively thrumming. With love. With love for Arizona.

"What?" Arizona whispered, though she could already feel what was coming. Happiness. Finally. She could feel it in her bones.

"You."