As the black Range Rover made its way through the quiet neighborhood, the driver pushed a button on the center console lighting up a nearby home with security lights and opening the gates leading her to the multi-car garage off to the side of her massive estate. Looking at the beautiful stone ranch house with its freshly manicured lawn, newly planted flowers and shrubbery, the driver allowed a proud grin to slowly form across her plump red lips. After so many years of feeling lost at sea, Dr. Callie Torres felt as though she had finally found her footing. She had a home to be proud of, a job she loved, a new and immensely popular medical center, and most importantly she finally felt the emotional stability she had been searching for. After a year of working solely on herself, Callie finally found all the answers she needed and with those answers came the healing she so desperately craved. All she needed now was to fill the void in her heart and only one person was capable of doing that. Letting out a forlorn sigh, she pulled into the garage next to her beloved classic Thunderbird and prepared to walk into her empty home. A home that was recently purchased, renovated, updated, and furnished with the best of the best of everything with careful consideration given to the accessibility of everything. The ink was barely dry on the paperwork of the sprawling estate having been occupied by only her for just over a month. But she was determined to change that, she just didn't know how. No matter the difficulty, Dr. Callie Torres, founder of Fresh START Medical Center for Orthopedics and Prosthetics, new homeowner, and all around badass was finally settled in and on a mission. It was time to get her life back! She turned off her car, pulled out her briefcase and made her way into her home.

As she let herself in the front door, she kicked off her shoes and set her bag just inside her office door leading from the entryway, turned on the dim light that rested on the small table, and put her keys in their usual place in the tiny bowl Sofia had made for her in art class. She smiled at the memory of her daughter proudly presenting her with the hideous pink and gold glittery "princess bowl" she had made shortly after settling into her new school. Someone really should tell kids that less is more when it comes to glitter. But Sofia was her world and anything her daughter made for her or gave to her brightened her day, so there it sat, in the front entry way for the world to see. It had become the collector of keys and spare change and whatnot. She then picked up the ornate picture frame sitting next to it and looked into the four smiling faces staring back at her before closing her eyes and fighting back the tears that have threatened to come more and more recently. This was the first photo she had of what used to be her family, her world. She and Sofia were just released from the hospital and Mark and Arizona had decided it was the perfect time for an impromptu photo shoot. She wasn't sure when it happened, but sometime between the baby shower and her 3 months stay in the hospital after the accident, the father of her child and her fiancé had made peace and actually became really close. Feeling the hot tears make their way down her tan cheeks, she gave into the sadness and allowed herself to miss all that she had lost.

Finally pulling herself together, she wiped her tears and made her way to her master suite where she quickly changed into her comfy sweatpants and ratty Hopkins t-shirt she stole from her wife several years ago and went into the en suite to wash off her make-up. Looking in the mirror, she smiled again, finally happy with the person looking back at her. The person she saw now barely resembled the Callie Torres of three years ago or even eight months ago. Long gone was the furrowed brow, the bags of exhaustion under her eyes, the ashy pallor of her skin, the sunken cheeks, and the deadened emotions in her eyes. More importantly, to her, the pain that caused all those things was gone as well. This woman standing before her was a tall, strong, Latina, sparkling brown eyes, shaved black hair, save enough to style at the top, she had put on some of the weight she had lost, though she was more toned and muscular, and most importantly, healthier, both physically and emotionally than the woman who left Seattle. The woman, she can admit now, who was only a broken shell of her former or current self and was running from all she had lost. Running from the pain. Running from her feelings.

Callie closed her eyes and thought of the words once spoken by her ex-wife during one of their many arguments. I had to tear it all down. I had to find out how to be me again. They were said with so much anguish and hit her heart like a thousand arrows at the time. Arizona was of course talking about losing her leg and trying to figure out how to live without it. She was talking about the bad decisions she made and how she was trying to make her life, their life right again. But it all just became too much. There was so much hurt and betrayal between them that Callie knew the only way to save them as individuals was to break them as a couple. It broke her heart, walking away from the woman she loved and the woman she now knew to be her soulmate. It was the most difficult decision she ever made. Some would say it was the worst decision she ever made. After that, well, she'll just say she kept making bad decisions up until about eighteen months ago. In fact, it was the memory of those words that spurred her into action. The Latina finally recognized it was time to heed that advice. Amongst her unhappiness, she realized she was suffering from depression and anxiety and ultimately understood how losing a piece of yourself made you want to tear your whole life to the ground and just start over. With a heavy heart, she sent her daughter back to Seattle to live with Arizona and tore her life to the ground and started to rebuild. After several months of therapy, opening her new clinic, and walking away from all her poor decisions, Callie Torres, badass ortho surgeon, inventor of artificial cartilage, creator of the AR5511 prosthetic prototype, and owner of her own medical center is back on track. The only thing she needs to do now, is get back the most important people in her life and correct the decisions that ruined a family in the process. The big question is how?

Shaking herself out of her reverie, Callie splashed cold water on her face and walked to the state-of-the-art kitchen where she grabbed a couple slices of cold pizza and a beer. It was after 1:30 am and she was far too tired to cook anything. Plopping down in her black leather recliner, Callie turned on the television and started thinking upon her schedule for tomorrow. Taking the last sip of beer, she tidied up for the night, made sure the house was locked up and walked toward her bedroom. Just as she was climbing in her king-sized bed, her phone rang. It was Arizona's ring tone. Panic paralyzed her for half a second as she realized the time in Seattle was far too late and her daughter would be in bed by now. Her ex-wife never called so she rushed to answer the phone, hoping it was not an emergency. "Arizona?" she questioned. She was greeted by the soft voice she heard so often in her dreams, "Callie, hey." She instantly recognized something was off. Her normally confident ex-wife sounded timid, almost as if she were afraid to be calling her. She hated that they had come to this. The thought that the only reason Arizona would be calling her was if something was wrong as well as the idea that the woman she once loved would be afraid of her reaction to her calls nearly made her sick. God how she wished she could fix this.

"Arizona are you okay?" she questioned softly. Her ex-wife rushed on as if she needed to get these words out or they wouldn't come. When they finally did, Callie couldn't believe what she was hearing from her daughter's other mother. "Ummm, listen, I was, I was thinking and um, I think - I think that…I think that Sofia should move back to New York with you." The brunette nearly dropped the phone, "Wait! What? Are you serious?" she questioned cautiously. Arizona was sending their daughter back to her. Why? "Yeah, and I think I need to move back with her." Callie couldn't answer. She couldn't breathe! "Wait! What?" was all she could manage once again. Was this real? What was going on here? Did she dare hope? Then, she heard that all too familiar sigh from the other end, the one that came after the hard part of what had to be said was over and her ex-wife continued but this time her voice was filled with conviction. "It's time for Sofia to have both of us in the same place again Callie. She needs us both. When she is with you, she misses me and is afraid to hurt your feelings. When she is with me, she misses you and is afraid to hurt mine. I can't do that to her anymore."

The Latina sat in stunned silence. Her ex-wife just told her she was bringing her daughter back to her and she was moving to New York as well. Something happened, what happened to change this? She wasn't sure what happened to make Arizona make this decision. She knew it had to be big. She finally asked, "What brought this on Arizona? What happened? I know this is hard on Sof, but…I don't understand why you would move from your home, your job, your…everything." She tried to keep her tone soft and non-accusatory. She didn't want her ex-wife to think she was blaming her for anything or making the wrong decision. This move and the custody of their child tore what little friendship they had apart. They could barely be civil until that day Arizona just showed up out of the blue and told her to take their daughter and be happy. She said they would all be happy, but she knew Arizona wasn't happy. She knew she had crushed the woman she loved beyond repair. She also knew now, something she refused to recognize then that only true love would prompt Arizona to do that.

Arizona knew she had to tell Callie what happened. She knew she had to tell her what a failure of a mother she was. It was time to admit the lawyers and their friends and most of all, Callie was right about her not being a fit parent. The blonde took a deep breath and tried to explain, "Since Sof has been here, all she has done is mope around, she hates the school here, she's angry when I make her go, and this morning…" Oh, she so didn't want to tell this part. Trying to hold back the tears now, she continued, "This morning she was suspended for stealing the field trip money. It was 1200 dollars. Callie!" The tears were running down her face and she couldn't keep the shakiness out of her voice. She trudged on, "She wouldn't tell me why, so since I had already failed her as a mother, I decided to go all in and found her diary. She took the money to buy a plane ticket so she could come home to you and she didn't want to hurt my feelings. She wants us both, but she loves her life in New York. She misses you and her school and her friends." There, she said it. She admitted she was a horrible mother, her daughter hated being with her and she turned her into a delinquent. Without waiting for a response, she finished what needed to be said, "I can't live without her, she wants us both. It's a sacrifice, but it's what parents do, and you can't go anywhere because of the center. You just opened recently, and you have been so successful at helping hundreds of amputees and veterans Callie. They need you. It's awesome what you've done! There's no way you could leave that. Our baby needs us in the same place and that place is there and this is the only answer." Arizona was crying now and didn't care that her ex-wife knew.

The blonde sat in her kitchen silently weeping and sniffling. She was doing her best to prepare for the wrath of the fiery Latina and the 'I told you so' that was sure to come. She knew Callie was pacing back and forth and was about to go into a rage of Spanish curse words at any minute. She tried to hold her breath, but it just burst out in broken sobs. She hated being so weak in front of her ex-wife. Little did she know, none of that was to come, hearing this news and how broken her ex was over what their daughter had done was tearing at Callie's heart. She hated that Arizona was putting this all on herself. She tried to console her, "Shhh, you didn't do anything wrong. You are an amazing mother Arizona. Our daughter loves you; she loves being with you. You said it yourself, when she is with me, she misses you. She is just as miserable here without you." the brunette said softly. Now it was the blonde's turn to be stunned. This was not the response she expected. When the brunette continued, she was further shocked. "Arizona, it was just as bad here, that's one of the reasons I sent her to you early. She just wasn't coping. I knew I had made the wrong decision bringing her with me. Do you think if we talked to her it would make a difference?" Callie asked quietly. She needed to know her ex-wife had thought this through. She needed to know she wouldn't get here and be miserable and resent her even more.

Having calmed down a little, the blonde spoke again, "I don't think talking will help Callie. She knows we both love her. I don't think her behavior is motivated by that; I think…" The blonde closed her eyes, she didn't want to say this next part, she didn't want to start a fight. "I think we have tried to do what is best for her while doing what is best for us, but we have taken any decisions or thoughts of her feelings out of her hands. This is why I have to do this. Moving back and forth is not good for her. I never spent more than 18 months in one place Callie, and I hated it and you know, YOU of all people know that it affected me as an adult. I don't want that for our daughter. I have been receiving offers from all over the country. Mt. Sinai said they have a place for me in peds and I have accepted the offer. If you don't want me there, then just tell me, but Sofia needs this." Arizona closed her eyes and silently pleaded, Just say it Callie, just say you don't want me to live in the same city with you again. Please don't let that be what you are saying.

It was clear that her ex-wife wasn't blaming her or throwing her decision to move to New York in her face. She wouldn't be thinking about her center or her career if that were the case. What killed her was that she was taking the blame herself and was willing to sacrifice her own career in doing what's best for their family. She realized then that she had her wife all wrong when she chose to take up the fellowship. "Why would you think I don't want you here?" Callie asked, her tone soft, non-accusatory. "I am just…well…Are you sure? I mean, you worked so hard to become a fetal surgeon, you…" She broke off her sentence, she didn't want to let on that she had followed her ex-wife's every move and was so close to bursting with pride. Then she remembered, she needed to communicate. Say what you mean so it is not misinterpreted.

The blonde on the other end of the line knew what her ex-wife was going to say. 'You chose this fellowship over having another baby, you allowed it to ruin our marriage and now you are just walking away from it?' She braced herself for the argument. She was prepared for the rant and the anger. She was not at all prepared for what came, however. "You, you completed a year-long fellowship in the most difficult field under the toughest teacher while she had a brain tumor in just under five months, you proceeded to become one of the top 5 fetal surgeons in the country in your first year, you are now THE top fetal surgeon in possibly the world, you've saved countless mothers and babies from certain death, you invented the OB crash cart which is becoming a necessity on every L & D floor in the country, you run two departments and you, you're just going back to being a peds attending? To come to New York?" Callie didn't mean to say all that, nor to say it so passionately and proudly, but…damn that woman. She was so talented and intelligent and GOD, she still made her blood boil with passion and want and need and more so now that she was thinking of their daughter first.

"Ummm…" Okay, she was not expecting that. Arizona flopped onto her couch and stared at the ceiling. She ran her fingers through her long blonde hair and could only force herself to breathe in and out. This was not what she expected. She was prepared for a fight about her moving to New York. But she wasn't prepared for this response. This was not at all how she thought this phone call would go. She and Callie hadn't talked much since she moved except about their daughter. Callie knowing all of this about her, sent a shockwave through her system. Had she been following her career? It had to just be Grey-Sloan gossip. "Look, I know, I am giving up a lot, but that's not half as important as what I would be losing, as what WE would be losing if we continued to do this to Sofia. She needs us both and my mind is made up. I can do consults and I am sure that eventually a maternal-fetal spot will open up for me."

"God Arizona." Callie said, all admiration and adoration in her voice now. "I can't believe, well, I can believe you would do that. Of course I am concerned about your career, about your happiness, but that you would just pick up and move here, for Sofia…" The Latina was completely thrown off. "But you still haven't answered my question. Why would you think I don't want you here?" She was sure she knew why; she had been horrible and up until recently, hadn't even begun to think of making things right because she just thought it was too late. Too late for an apology, too late for a friendship, and most certainly too late to take her life back. Could this be the first step? She knew she had to tread lightly, but this could be her chance to fix her family.

This conversation was nearly surreal to the blonde. She had expected raised voices and denial and Callie to jump to the defensive, but she certainly hadn't expected her ex-wife to jump to her defense and worry about her career and her well-being. She knew if they had a chance of making this work and raising a child together once again in the same city, she had to be honest and put herself out there. So, she told the truth, "I just…I just meant…well, I mean, you went to New York, then you stayed there after you and Penny broke up, you opened a clinic and well, you just didn't come back so…so I thought, I thought you didn't come back because of me." Arizona was stammering and vulnerable and she hated it. She hated it more that she knew at one time Callie loved stammering and rambling Arizona. On the other end of the line, Callie smiled. She loved stammering Arizona! Not able to hide the mirth in her voice, the Latina said, "You're stammering Arizona."

"Shut up!" Arizona replied, smiling now too, she's laughing at me and enjoying this. Letting out a deep breath, she continued. "I thought maybe you were trying to talk me out of coming. That maybe you thought it was a bad idea…umm, us being in the same city." There, she said it. She squeezed her eyes tight and waited for the truth to come out. God, why did she always brace herself when it came to this woman? Why did Callie Torres still have a hold over her nearly 4 years after she walked out on her? "What?" Incredulous now. "Wait! What?" Well, okay, fair enough, given their history, she could see that. "Arizona, I would love nothing more than to have you move here and raise our daughter together…er in the same city. I just don't want you to regret it and I don't want you to resent me anymore than you already do." She closed her eyes hoping she covered her little slip quick enough. Whew! Smooth Torres. She thought as she slapped herself on the forehead. Arizona caught it though. She hated herself for it, but she smiled just a little. "I don't resent you Callie, you did what you needed to do. So, it's settled then. It will take a few weeks to get everything wrapped up here, and I need to stay for Karev's wedding, but, then we will fly out."

"Wait, Karev is getting married? God, what else have I missed?" Callie asked as she decided to get out of bed and grab another beer. Arizona poured another glass of wine and took it to her bedroom and settled in for the conversation. She tried to think of some of the most recent events and decided with the story that would lead up to something she knew her ex-wife would enjoy. "Hmmm, well, Owen and I were married for a day and he saw my boobs." The blonde laughed when she heard the woman on the other line choke. The brunette had just taken a drink of her beer when that bomb was dropped. "Come again?" she sputtered. Arizona went through the story of her patient who thought she had cancer and how she and Owen pretended to be married to catch the dirty doctor and how she was told she had breast cancer and made April run another scan while Owen was in the room. Callie closed her eyes and tried to calm her racing heart. She had to clarify, "Okay, so you DON'T have breast cancer?" The blonde smirked to herself knowing her breasts happened to be the Latina's favorite part of her. "No Callie, my boobs are still intact and healthy." Hearing the playfulness from her ex, the brunette grinned and chided, "They're good boobs!" They both laughed at that comment and neither wanted to recognize the rising temperature in their bodies at the topic being discussed.

Quickly changing the subject, Arizona tossed out, "Oh! The patient and her wife were so happy she didn't have cancer, they made me some lesbian gratitude cookies and I got everybody high." More choking from the other end of the line. "Hey Callie, it might be a good idea if you stop drinking while I tell this story." the blonde laughed. Thoroughly enjoying their banter, Callie continued, "I think I am afraid to ask how you got everyone high." For the next ten minutes, Arizona regaled her ex with the story of how nearly all the attendings, including Bailey and Catherine Fox were stoned from the cookies. "…and that is also how the information came out about Harper Avery and why it is now called The Catherine Fox Foundation." Callie was crying she was laughing so hard. Arizona closed her eyes and relished the sound of that laughter. God how she missed that laugh. She could almost see the beautiful woman with her head thrown back, eyes sparkling, and that gorgeous mouth with the most amazing smile she had ever seen. She was brought out of her reverie by the brunette's voice, husky from laughing so hard, "God, what I wouldn't give to see stoned Arizona. Wait, all of this was started because of a shitty doctor trying to earn some extra cash? Sometimes I miss that place." She laughed again.

Thinking of all the good and bad that has happened there, Arizona realized in that moment that she was ready to move on. "I get that, but you know it's not all good. To be quite honest Callie, I think I am ready for a change." She said quietly. The two continued to catch up and reminisce for another hour before both decided Callie should head to bed since it was nearly 3:30 am on her side of the country. With soft good-nights and talk to you soon, they each hung up with smiles on their faces. Maybe this will be a good thing.