Written after 12x04. Set in the future.
"Oh, Arizona! I didn't see you. I'm sorry, I'll –"
"Callie," Arizona interrupted, getting up from the on-call room's bed to face her ex-wife.
"Hmm?" Callie asked, an odd sense of nervousness suddenly swirling around her stomach.
Arizona swallowed inaudibly before sharing her truth. "I miss you," she admitted honestly. She stood silently in front of the woman she loved, bleak and exposed.
Callie's breath caught in her throat, but she before she could even think, she was shaking her head, murmuring, "Arizona…"
"I mean it," Arizona vowed, ducking her head to force the taller woman to meet her eyes. "I miss you, Calliope. And I'm still in love with you. I'm so in love with you. Even after all this time."
Callie felt her eyes bulge. She wasn't sure whether she wanted to run into Arizona's arms or to run out the door, but she find that she was unable to do either. Her feet were superglued to the floor.
"And I don't mean to…" Arizona shook her head, clearing it. "Penny's…great. And I'm glad that you found someone…else. But I don't think she's what's best for you."
Callie knit her eyebrows together. "What?" What was Arizona saying? And who did she think she was? "What's best for me, then?" she challenged.
After a moment of pause, out came, "I am. At least, I think I couldbe. And I know that you're what's best for me." She bit her lip, attempting to read her ex-wife's incomprehensible expression. "You're just…you're everything. You're my everything. And, more than anything, I want to be everything for you, again."
Callie exhaled a shuddering breath as she attempted to make a decision about what to do next. About…where to go from there. But it didn't take much reflecting, or thinking, or processing. Because, really, she already knew.
"Arizona," she breathed, suddenly overcome by a swell of emotion.
Arizona fearfully kept their eyes locked, terrified for what would come out of Callie's beautiful mouth next. It could either be a salve to her soul, or it could destroy her entirely.
Callie softly shook her head, in awe of it all. Of how deeply she could love. Or how much she could hurt. Of how strongly she could heal.
Of how imperfectly imperfect Arizona was and how, after all this time, Callie knew that still, all she wanted was her.
"You've always been my everything. Don't you get that?"
Arizona's eyes widened in surprise that time.
"You're the person I vowed to spend my life with. You've always been the one. You always will be."
Arizona whimpered. "But…?" she began. She knew there had to be a "but" coming, and she was ready to vehemently fight it. She was ready to convince Callie that they were worth it. They were worth it all. Their love was worth it all.
Callie shook her head. "But nothing. If you're in, then I'm in."
Arizona felt her heart begin beating in her ears, a gust of strong wind coursing through her fluttering stomach.
"I've been waiting for you," Callie continued. "To get it all together, to figure out what you want…"
Arizona stepped forward, reaching down to grab Callie's hand – needing to touch her somehow.
Callie's breath hitched, and she looked down at their adjoined hands: a mixture of milk and caramel.
"I've been waiting for you," Arizona countered. "To…heal. The way you gave me space to heal after…all of it."
Callie slowly nodded, suddenly understanding. Arizona had been waiting for her. They'd been…God, they'd been selfless. They'd each been trying to let the other be happy, and to be happy for the other. And wasn't that the definition of love?
It was.
It was love. It was real, true love.
"I'm still in love with you, too," Callie exhaled, her heart exploding in her chest as she finally admitted it. Her truth. What had been her truth…forever.
She was still in love with Arizona. She was.
They were.
It was love. It was real, true love.
And it always would be.
