Set in the future. Another (unrealistic) reconciliation story. Written after 12x05. Set later.


Callie was eating lunch in a supply closet. A closet. Like a scared little middle schooler who was hiding from the mean girls or from the boy she liked.

Except Callie wasn't hiding. She just didn't want to deal with any of it. With Meredith's and Amelia's misplaced anger and with Penny's deceit.

She was just tired. She was tired of it all being so hard. Of never catching a break.

And she knew that she couldn't blame Penny or even the universe entirely for this one — after all, she had willfully broken up with the woman — but still. She wouldn't have if Blake hadn't omitted information. She wouldn't have if she hadn't felt deceived.

So she was alone again. And, believe it or not, she was at a place where she was okay with that. She just would have preferred, you know, not to eat lunch alone in a supply closet in an attempt to avoid everyone.

She was just finishing up her rice, sweet potatoes, and salad — she was trying to feed herself and Sofia two vegan meals a day to slow global warming — when someone threw open the door and ducked inside.

Callie's head snapped up, and she was pleasantly surprised to see that it was Arizona.

"Hi," the blonde chirped, as if this was the most normal thing in the world. As if she tracked down Callie in supply closets all the time. As if they still talked to each other.

"Hi," Callie offered, her eyebrows furrowed in confused question.

Arizona moved forwards and attempted to gingerly lower herself onto the floor to sit beside Callie. The process ended up being a little less graceful than she would have liked.

Callie only watched her in silence. What was going on?

"I saw you come in here," Arizona explained once she was situated. "And I didn't think you should eat alone."

She lifted the lid of her own leftovers, trying to slow her overworking heart. She hadn't been so close to Callie — and alone with Callie — in a long time. And it felt different now that she knew that she still loved her ex-wife and still wanted her back.

But Callie didn't seem to notice her nervousness. She only looked down and frowned at her lunch. "A sandwich?" Since when did Arizona like sandwiches?

Arizona made a face. "I know. Deluca took my lunch bag by mistake this morning."

Callie raised her eyebrows in momentary surprise, then chuckled. "Right. You're living with a man now. I never saw that coming." She could be normal, right? They could be normal. It had been two years. They had moved on. She had moved on. Right?

"And you're with Penny," Arizona countered, her face betraying her true inner turmoil for a fraction of a second.

Callie pursed her lips, shaking her head. "No, I'm not."

Arizona's eyes drew up to curiously meet introspective chocolate brown orbs. "What? Because of Meredith? But —" she paused. "You were so happy."

"I was," Callie rolled her eyes. "It's just different now. We're just…" she shook her head, suddenly realizing where she was and who she was talking to. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't be laying all my stuff on you."

Arizona smiled sincerely, without an ounce of hesitation. She had been Callie's "good man in a storm" once upon a time, and she could be that again. "No. I'm happy to listen."

Callie explored her ex-wife's face, weighing her sincerity and finding no signs of fraudulence. Arizona really was over her. Which Callie had suspected for a while. But she had always hoped…

What was she thinking? God. She sounded like a crazy woman. With an aching heart.

Which so wasn't her. Right.

Finally, she supplied, "It's like…" she rolled her eyes. "It's like we're tainted now. You know? Like, nothing's sacred. We can't recover."

Arizona exhaled a tumultuous breath. "Like you and I? After I cheated?"

Well, out of every response she had expected from Arizona, it certainly hadn't been that. Arizona had never willingly brought up that night. She had always shied away from the subject, trying to delete it from existence.

But, now, she was looking at Callie, unblinking. Her words hanging in the air.

Callie didn't have the strength to tear her eyes away from those vulnerable baby blues. "Yeah," she finally breathed. "Like that. Betrayed."

Arizona slowly nodded, feeling that ache in the pit of her stomach return. If she were to look in the mirror, her face would be translucent white. She was sure of it. She looked down at her hands. "I'm sorry." She was full of apologies. And regrets. God, she wanted more than anything to be able to take back that night. To still be a woman Callie could love.

Because, man. She still loved Callie. With everything.

Before Callie could stop herself, her hand reached out to touch Arizona's. She saw blue eyes flash down to her caramel hand and quickly froze — not sure if she was allowed to break through her ex-wife's physical bubble. Slowly, she withdrew her hand, instead setting it down on the floor beside a slim thigh. "I know," she breathed.

Arizona nodded, trying to look away from that hand that was suddenly so close to her. It had almost touched her. She shivered at the mere thought. She ached for Callie's touch. She yearned for it.

She looked back into patient eyes, adding, "And thank you."

Callie's eyebrows furrowed in question.

"For afterwards. For trying again. For not giving up," Arizona explained. Callie really had loved her. Once.

Callie expelled a long breath, leaning her head back against the shelf and closing her eyes. "You don't have to thank me," she argued. She brought her gaze back to Arizona's waiting face. "You and I…"

Arizona felt her breath hitch in anticipation. She wanted Callie to say so much. She wanted a reason to tell her ex-wife the truth without messing everything up again.

Callie either didn't notice Arizona's strange disposition or didn't comment on the audible and noticeable change in her now haggard breathing. "I think," Callie paused, correcting herself. "I know that you're — were — my soulmate. Or one of them, anyway. So I don't regret it. I don't regret trying and trying again, even though it almost killed me. I'm glad that I can say that I did everything I could."

Arizona's eyes widened with every word that Callie spoke, and she felt her heart flutter uncontrollably in her chest. This was the sign she'd been waiting for.

Callie seemed lost in thought, and Arizona allowed herself a moment to peer at Callie's face without fearfully averting her gaze, as she had so many times during their two agonizing years apart.

This beautiful, complex, brilliant, life-changing woman had just called Arizona her soulmate, and the weight of the statement wasn't wasted on Arizona. "You're mine," she breathed.

Callie slowly turned back towards Arizona, brows knit. "Your what?" What was Arizona talking about? And what the hell had she been thinking, bringing up old pain and wounds?

"Soulmate," Arizona finished without a doubt of uncertainty. "Not 'one of them.' The only one." She brought her eyes down to Callie's hand that had been so close to touching her. So close. It took all the self-control she had not to trace the lines of her ex-wife's long fingers with her own. It took all the self-control she had not to pull Callie to her.

Or to run.

She bit her lip, searching wide brown eyes for encouragement.

And Callie found herself unable to pull her eyes away from her ex-wife's. What was she saying? She felt her heart pounding in her chest, and she didn't like the feeling. The anticipation. The fear. The power Arizona had always had over her. It wasn't something she'd acknowledged in two years.

It was almost unbearable. How much the blonde still affected her. After all this time.

When Arizona didn't expand further, Callie finally managed to utter, "What?" It felt physically impossible to put together any other words, and she could hear how the word made a quiet squeak in her throat as she tried to form it with her tongue.

She couldn't close her mouth. She couldn't breathe, really.

Arizona licked her lips. She was nervous. She was terrified that this would destroy the "friendly," bearable rapport they'd built with one another over the course of the last two years. But, more than that, she was determined to say the words. Even if Callie didn't agree or respond, she would at least know.

"You are my true love, Callie," Arizona continued. "You are my soulmate, the love of my life, whatever." She shook her head, attempting to find the words. "You are the only person I want to share my life with and build my life with. Still. I'm still in love with you, and I don't want anything with anyone but you."

Callie was speechless. Speech. Less. Speechless.

"And…I don't know if you could ever want me again — or enough to try again — but I'll never stop wanting you. I think that, even if I find someone else to settle for, I'll always be dreaming of you."

"You…" Callie croaked. "You didn't…Why didn't you ever say anything?"

"You were dating Penny. And it wasn't until you started moving on that I knew."

Quickly, she added, "I just didn't really accept that we were done until you started falling for someone else. And I realized that I don't want us to be done. I want to be with you, and to be true to you, and for us to grow together."

Arizona still loved her. And wanted her. And that was something Callie had never allowed herself to want to hear. Because of course that was what she wanted. More than anything. For her ex-wife to fight the way she hadn't when Callie had walked away. Because so much of the brunette had wished her then-wife would have stopped her from walking out that door, but she hadn't.

It had been as if Arizona had left long before. Not physically, but emotionally.

But it became clear that Arizona wasn't going anywhere now, as she slowly reached for Callie's hand, wrapping their skin around each other.

Callie felt herself jump at the feeling of warm, familiar skin against her own, and she couldn't tear her eyes away from their suddenly clasped hands as Arizona's gently squeezed hers — urging a response of some sort.

"I…" Callie began.

Arizona sucked in a breath, pulling Callie's hand impossibly tighter against her own as she waited for the response that would either fulfill her aching desire or destroy her resolve.

"I want a life with you, Arizona. More than anything in the world."

Arizona's lips lifted into a tentative smile as she read Callie's somewhat indecipherable face. This was good, right? "You do?" she asked before Callie could say anything else.

Her thought process interrupted, Callie paused before nodding and again meeting Arizona's eyes. Because, despite her fears — her big fears — about all of it, about making it, about…everything, she was always still wanting Arizona.

And, god. Arizona still wanted her.

She couldn't allow her fears to outweigh the miracle of it all. "I do," she mouthed, her gaze automatically falling to delicious pink lips. She couldn't help it.

In turn, Arizona's eyes flicked down to plump red lips, and she brought her shaking hand up to cup a caramel cheek. She ran her thumb down the soft skin, reveling in the way Callie's eyes became lidded at the sweet feeling. In a way, it felt refreshingly familiar, but in another, she still felt like she was crossing into space that was no longer hers for the taking.

This fearful line of reasoning came to a halt, however, when Callie dipped her head, brushing their lips and then covering Arizona's mouth with her own.

The kiss was neither innocent nor voracious but a comforting mixture, as adamant lips and mouths re-explored each other.

Callie brought her hand to the back of Arizona's neck, holding her there as the blonde sighed at the sweet taste of her ex-wife.

Between panting breaths, Callie breathed, "Tell me we'll work this time."

"We will," Arizona promised, lifting her face to suck on Callie's full bottom lip. "Tell me neither of us will give up."

"We won't," Callie promised, resting her forehead against Arizona's. "Tell me we'll communicate."

Arizona nodded. "Calliope." She paused. "I've never been more committed to you than I am now. And I've never loved you more."

This time, Callie couldn't help but grin into the kiss. She had wanted to hear those words for so long. Forever.

Arizona stubbornly kept their lips together, refusing to break contact just yet. "Say it," she murmured between kisses. She needed to hear it. She needed reassurance that Callie really was in. Once and for all.

Callie pulled away, her hands still reverently clutching porcelain cheeks as she allowed herself a moment to really take in Arizona: her soulmate, her ex-wife, the woman she loved. "I love you. And I want you as much as you want me. I'm so in love with you. And I always will be."

Arizona bit her swollen bottom lip as her eyes welled with unshed tears.

Happy tears.

She was happy. This was happy.

She reached her hand up to grab one of Callie's hands and envelop it in her own, exhaling a content sigh at how perfectly they still fit together.

"Good," she quipped. Then, she grinned slyly. "Because I'm going to spend every moment loving you — even when we're fighting, even when we're yelling, even when we're hating each other — for the rest of my life. You're stuck with me."

Callie couldn't control the euphoric, almost childish, grin from lighting up her face. "I've never been happier being stuck."