Another Calzona Reconciliation. I borrowed immensely from an Olifitz scene.


Flames. They were all Callie could see. Flames. All around her. Everywhere.

Two minutes before, she had been innocently, ignorantly sleeping in an empty on call room.

Then, she had woken up to her blaring pager and to the smell of smoke.

Now, the hideous fire alarm began to sound, and she ripped open the door to see what was happening.

Smoke. Flames. People running. Patients screaming in fear, unable to move from their beds on account of recent orthopedic surgery.

She was suddenly catapulted into action. She needed to get people out of there. She needed to get out of there.

She whipped out her phone as she raced to the nearest patient's bedside.

She needed to call 9-1-1 and alert the firefighters that there were still people on the fourth floor. Just…

Just in case. Just in case they couldn't find their way outside before the flames spread further.

Just in case they – and she – didn't make it out.


Arizona was getting a snack in the hospital cafeteria when she heard it. The scream. The panic.

The grease fire that was spreading impossibly fast.

"Fire!" someone yelled. "Fire!"

A few people ran to help stop the flames.

Everyone else ran for the doors. Chaos.

Arizona stayed to help, but it was spreading and spreading fast. She paged Bailey. She ran downstairs for Sofia. She wanted to get her daughter outside. Just in case.


It turned out to be a good decision, because soon, the fire had spread. Everywhere. And – little by little – patients and doctors were being evacuated as half a dozen fire trucks sped towards the monstrous, smoky orange building, prepared to fight the fire.

Leaving Sofia in the care of her daycare teachers, Arizona rushed through the crowds of people, searching for the one other person she needed to know was safe.

Callie.

Only the week before, she had finally worked up the courage to tell her ex-wife what she had discovered: that she didn't want to move on, that she couldn't move on, that she still wanted to love only her, and her alone.

And the response she'd received had been more devastating than she ever could have imagined. Because, at worst, she'd figured that Callie no longer felt the same. Callie'd moved on, she'd dated other people, and she'd realized that, indeed, she still wanted to see what else was out there.

She figured that, at worst, Callie would have said "I'm done. I don't love you anymore."

Which would have killed Arizona. But her ex-wife's actual response had more than killed her: the words buried her alive in a moldy coffin, under ten feet of sleet and snow.

Arizona still remembered the conversation perfectly. It haunted her in her sleep and in wakefulness.


"So I'm fighting for you," she'd insisted. "I love you, Calliope, and I don't want to move on. I don't want to find love again when I'm eighty-five. I want it right now. With my true love. With you."

Even now, she could hear Callie's sharp intake of breath in her ears. In her head, she could see her ex-wife's bulging brown eyes.

"I'm still in love with you," she'd added, blathering on. "I'm still…consumed with love for you. And all I want is to be with you."

Even now, she could hear Callie's rampant heartbeat. "Arizona…" she had pleaded.

"Callie," Arizona had countered, her voice filled with longing and vulnerability. "I know you might not feel the same, I know you might be done, but –"

"Of course I feel the same!" Callie had exclaimed. "Of course. I feel. The same. I love you, I've always loved you!"

Her eyes wide, Arizona had nodded carefully, alarmed by the sudden outburst. "Good –"

"No," Callie had argued. "Not good. Arizona," she breathed. "If love were enough, we'd never have divorced in the first place. We loved each other, and we'll always love each other, but…We have different priorities. We won't work. We can't work."


And then Arizona had argued. With desperation, she'd argued. But Callie couldn't hear. She had only shaken her head. She had come to a decision.

That they couldn't make it. That they weren't worth another shot. That love wasn't enough.

And that had been the last time they'd spoken. And, now, there was a fire in the hospital, and Callie was nowhere to be found.

"Arizona! Arizona!" she heard from behind her, as she began to make her way towards an idle firefighter. "Arizona!"

Quickly, April was beside her. "Are you okay? Do you know what happened?"

"Grease fire," Arizona explained, not even really seeing her best friend. She was focused on only one thing. "Have you seen Callie?"

April shook her head. "I haven't seen her. I had a surgery with her earlier, and she said she was going to go take a nap."

"In Ortho?" Arizona pressed. Was Callie on the fourth floor? Still? How the hell was she going to get out?

She rushed up to the fireman, April trailing worriedly behind her, and asked, "Have you evacuated the fourth floor yet?!"

The man looked up at her and shook his head. "No, ma'am. We're going floor by floor so that the people underneath don't get crushed in case the building goes down."

Arizona's eyes widened. "So there are still people in there?"

With furrowed brows, the man nodded. "A lot of people."

And Arizona couldn't breathe. Callie was in there. She had to be. Arizona was outside, and Callie was in a burning building.

It was incomprehensible. It was impossible. It was unbearable.

"Arizona –" April began, getting an idea of her best friend's stupid, idiotic plan.

"I have to get in there," Arizona whispered. Turning back to the distracted firefighter, she yelled over the noise, "Evacuate the fourth floor as soon as you can, okay? I'm a surgeon and a mother and do not want to die."

And before he could stop her, before April could stop her, before anyone could stop her, Arizona raced back into the hazy building, covering her nose and mouth with her scrub top as she headed for the stairs. She raced up four flights, tripping twice as her prosthesis attempted in vain to keep up with her desperation. She could feel the adrenaline pounding through her. She felt its heat oozing from every pore, every gland, keeping her moving.

Callie. Callie was in a burning building.

And Arizona was not going to let her die.

She opened the door of the fire escape on the fourth floor, and instantly noted that the hallway was shrouded by a thick, intoxicating smoke. It burned her eyes, her nose, and her throat. How had the smoke and fire spread so quickly?

"CALLIE!" she called, making her way deeper onto the floor. "CALLIE!"

Callie was ripping the blankets off a patient, desperate to get the young man into a wheelchair to help get him out of there when she thought she heard a voice. A familiar voice. A voice she loved and yearned for.

But that was crazy. Right? Insufficient oxygen. It was making her crazy.

"Callie!" she heard again.

Her head shot up. "ARIZONA?"

Arizona careened down the hallway, following her ex-wife's voice. She was here. She was alive.

She raced into the nearest patient's room, and there she was. Through the smoke, Arizona saw her. And she was beautiful.

"You're okay," Arizona breathed. She was alive.

"What are you doing here?" Callie accused. "Where's Sofia?"

"She's safe," Arizona soothed. "But I needed to find you." Her eyes locked with Callie's for a silent, weighted moment.

Arizona was here. Arizona had, what? Raced into a burning building to come find her? The mere thought was incomprehensible. What had she been thinking?

Noticing her ex-wife's frozen features, Arizona interrupted her thoughts, asking, "What can I do to help? Are there still people up here?"

Callie nodded. "I sent everyone who could walk down the fire escape. Hopefully they got out safely. But Todd, here, and everyone who've had hip or leg surgeries…I don't know what to do. How to get them out."

Arizona gulped. She didn't either. "Do you think they can help each other down the stairs?" she asked honestly. "It'll hurt, but…"

Callie nodded seriously. "It's worth a shot, I guess." She turned around, grabbing a pair of crutches from a few feet away. "Todd, can you stand?" Carefully, she helped him onto the crutches as Arizona continued to stare at her, seemingly lost in her thoughts.

"You should go," Callie stated, refusing to look up. "I can help everyone on my own."

At that, Arizona violently shook her head. No way. "You should go," she argued as Todd walked past her and into the smoky hallway. "I can help them."

Callie walked towards her, eyes pleading. "Arizona," she pleaded. "Please. In case something happens…In case the hospital crumbles or explodes, we can't leave Sofia an orphan. Go."

Arizona shook her head again. Decisive. "I'm not going anywhere without you. And if you're determined to help your patients outside, then I'll help you."

At that point, Callie realized that arguing was futile. Instead, they would have to work quickly. Because she did not want to die, and god. She really didn't want Arizona to die. "Fine," she surrendered. "Help me with the other patients."

Together, they got the patients out of bed, got them all on crutches to help walk, and got them all buddies so that they could head down the stairs together.

"Hopefully the fire hasn't spread to the stairs," Callie commented fearfully as she watched two patients suffer in excruciating pain as they headed down the first stair of one-hundred-and-twenty-eight.

The smoke burned her lungs, and eyes, and nose as she headed for the opposite hallway, wanting to make sure she hadn't missed anyone. She heard fast-paced footsteps beside her as Arizona determinedly followed after her.

"I've seriously got this," Callie called over her shoulder. "Please just go. I'll see you down there."

"I'm not going." Arizona crossed her arms over her chest. "I am not going to let you be the hero. I am not going to let you die. I'm staying to make sure it doesn't happen."

"We could both die!" Callie threw up her hands in desperation.

"Callie, I love you," Arizona countered harshly. "I know you say that we have different priorities, but—"

"We do!" Callie insisted. "We've always chosen different things! I wanted you, and you wanted Africa! I wanted to grow our family, and you didn't! I –"

"I want you to stay alive, and you want me to stay alive!" Arizona interrupted. That's where they were at, after all. Each woman wanted the other to leave. To flee. To seek safety outside. And they were both too damn stubborn to go. "It doesn't seem like our choices are so different anymore."

"They are!" Callie sputtered out irrationally. Even she knew that her argument held little power. Arizona was right. She knew she was right. They had both changed, and grown, and – maybe, just maybe – they could grow together if they gave it a shot.

But she was scared. She was so, so, so scared. To try again. To fail again. To feel that pain of losing the person she loved most. Again.

So she was fighting against the woman she loved. The woman she really, really, truly loved. In the midst of a disaster.

She was a fucking coward.

Feeling blue eyes watching her, unblinking, Callie had to turn away and ducked into another patient's room. The middle-aged woman was asleep in bed. How was she sleeping through all this?

She quickly picked up the chart. Pam Chandler. "Mrs. Chandler?" she questioned softly.

Feeling Arizona's warmth behind her – so close but not quite touching – Callie leapt forward, heading for the hospital bed. "Mrs. Chandler?" she asked again. "Pam?" she rubbed her shoulder.

Nothing.

"Check her pulse," Arizona whispered. It didn't look good.

Callie brought two shaky fingers to the woman's carotid. The chart had said she'd gotten a standard knee replacement. She couldn't be dead.

"Anything?" the blonde questioned.

Callie shook her head. "She's gone."

A sad, sympathetic sigh passed through the blonde's lips. Callie hated death.

She knew that everyone hated it. Especially doctors. But Callie hated it more than anyone.

"I'm sorry."

Callie shook her head. She had more to worry about right now. They needed to get out before they died, too. "It's fine. Let's go."

Arizona quickly nodded and, side by side, they headed for the fire escape stairs once again. It took all the strength Arizona had not to reach out for Callie's hand. She ached for her ex-wife's skin so badly that it physically hurt.

But she held back, because Callie was determined to fight their love. Even if it meant that they were both miserable.

Callie pushed open the door and, instantly, thick black smoke flooded their senses. They erupted in coughing fits as they felt tears fall from their irritated watery eyes.

"We can't go down there," Arizona stated a fact they both knew. "The fire's spread."

"I know," Callie murmured hopelessly. What other way out was there? There was no other way.

"It'll be fine," Arizona argued hopefully. "We'll find another way out."

"There's no other way out!" Callie exploded. "We need – I need –" she could feel herself working herself into a panic attack. She already was lacking oxygen, and…

"Callie!" Arizona exclaimed, noticing her ex-wife's suddenly panicked demeanor. She reached out and grabbed her hand, cradling it between each of her own. "We are not going to die today. Okay? We will find a way."

She'd told the paramedic where she would be. She hoped it would help. She couldn't die. She couldn't.

And she couldn't let the woman she loved die, either.

With Callie ghosting behind her, Arizona headed for the nearest patient's room, rushing towards the window to look at the ground below. If they couldn't get out through the stairs or elevators, they would have to jump, right? And there would be paramedics and firefighters waiting with life nets somewhere, right?

"What are you doing?" Callie huffed.

"We're going to jump," Arizona explained, heading for the next room. There had to be lifenets, right?! How else would they get out?!

"WHAT?" Callie screeched. "We can't!"

Heading for the fifth room, Arizona smiled when she saw that the window was large enough for them to both fit through. That was a good sign. She looked beneath her and, yep, there were dozens of professionals beneath them, holding up life nets in order for them to land safely.

"There they are!" she heard one call. "Jump!"

Callie, who had walked up behind her, followed Arizona's eyes to the sight over one hundred feet beneath them. "No way," she hyperventilated. "No. Way."

"It'll be fine," Arizona promised.

Callie shook her head. There were two things in life that terrified her: public speaking and heights.

And heights were exponentially worse. Jumping from heights could cause death. Public speaking didn't.

"Callie," Arizona pleaded.

Callie shut her eyes tightly. She couldn't even look down. Too high. No way. "I can't, Arizona," she cried. "You jump."

"No," Arizona argued. "Not without you."

"ARIZONA!" Callie begged. What was wrong with her ex? If Arizona didn't jump, then they would both die there. Why couldn't she just listen to her for once?

"I told you," Arizona repeated patiently. "I love you. I choose you. And I'm not leaving you."

Callie groaned, bringing her hands up to cover her face.

Arizona reached up and forcefully pulled Callie's hands off her eyes, forcing her ex-wife to look at her. "You said we don't choose the same things. You think I never choose you. But I do. I do now. I choose you, and I think you don't believe me."

"I believe you," Callie argued desperately. She just wanted Arizona to jump. She just wanted her to live. She would follow after her. She would jump…eventually. Before the building collapsed. Once she built up the nerve.

Arizona shook her head, knowing the truth. "I think you believe that I will never choose you. Because I left for Africa. Because I treated you awfully. Because I cheated."

Callie cringed at the words. Even after all this time, it still hurt.

"So this time, I'm fixing things," Arizona continued. "If you won't jump, then you and I are just going to stand here until the clock runs out."

"Don't," Callie pleaded.

"If you won't jump, then we're just going to stand here. You're going to stand here with me and watch me choose you."

"Sofia," Callie reminded her. She couldn't make any other words. Not with Arizona there, voice raspy and invading her senses, insisting that she was choosing her.

She didn't realize how much she ached for this until that moment. For her ex-wife to prove her love.

But this proved it. Arizona was willing to die with her. For her. If that was what it took.

"Callie, if you won't jump, then we are going to stand here until it's too late." Secretly, Arizona knew that Callie would face her fears. She wouldn't let them both die.

But she had to prove to her ex-wife – once and for all – that she loved her. That she was committed to her. Infinitely. Entirely.

When Callie still made no move to step towards the window, Arizona repeated, "You're going to watch me make you my priority. You're going to watch me choose you." She had to prove how serious she was. She was serious.

Callie shook her head in disbelief. Arizona wasn't crazy. She wasn't suicidal. "You wouldn't." She wouldn't. Right? She couldn't.

"I would," Arizona insisted, her tone terrifyingly serious and determined. "I will. I'm going to."

Callie shut her eyes tight. This was crazy. She needed to jump. She needed to stop being scared. Of heights. Of love. Of everything.

Arizona brought a hand that smelled like smoke up to Callie's face, caressing the soft skin beneath her fingertips and willing her ex-wife to open her eyes. Once she did, blue bored deeply into watery brown. "If you won't jump, watch me choose you," she insisted. "Watch me earn you."

She looked deeply into Callie's eyes, attempting to pour all the love she had for her ex-wife into her words. She loved Callie. She chose Callie. And she was willing to do whatever it took to prove it.

After a long moment of silent eye contact, Callie inhaled a long, calming breath, exhaling the truest words she'd ever breathed. "I choose you."

Arizona's eyes widened in surprise.

She brought her hands up to cup Arizona's cheeks, bringing her own face down to leave a whisper of a kiss on her lips. A prologue to the novel she would write against the glorious warm mouth once they finally reached safety. Their lips met for only a second, but Callie poured all her love into Arizona. And there was so much of it.

She pulled away, reveling in the shock she saw etched across gorgeous milky features. "I choose you, too. And you don't have to prove anything. We'll jump together." She could do this.

They could do this.

Pursing her lips, Arizona nodded quickly, opening the window more widely so that they could both step through.

Callie clutched Arizona's hand with all the strength she had, and the blonde comfortingly squeezed it.

"On the count of three," Arizona whispered.

Callie nodded. She felt butterflies rampant in her stomach.

"One," they breathed.

"Two." They felt their hearts exploding in their chests.

"Three." They look one last breath.

And then they took a leap of faith. They faced their fears. Together.