AU. Written after 12x05. Set in a while. Inspired by Japril.


"High school sophomores on their way back from college visits. Got caught in the storm; two busses overturned and one crashed into them. Robbins, Torres, Kepner, Deluca, Karev, can you go in the ambulance and triage on scene?" Chief Bailey looked around her, searching for more courageous surgeons she could trust to help. "You!" she called towards two anxious interns. "Go with them! Follow your attendings' orders."

Quickly, Arizona, Callie, Alex, Jackson, and April headed towards the door to the ER, anxious to mount the vehicle, and the interns eagerly scuffled behind them. Once everyone had boarded, the paramedics shut the doors and immediately began heading towards the closed-down highway, determined to fulfill their purpose and help save lives.

In the back of the rig, the doctors began gloving up, distributing supplies to help stop bleeding and to provide any immediate urgent care.

Jackson was the one to first interrupt the silence. "Guys, we've been through this before. If the busses are on fire, watch out for the scent of gas — there could be a fuel leak."

"Right," April nodded. "Help everyone you can, but don't put your own lives in danger," she added sagely, looking pointedly at Jackson. She couldn't help but get nervous, thinking about the last time they'd been in a similar position. "Let's agree on that now."

Everyone nodded in understanding.

"Got it," an intern said.

The ambulance came to a sudden stop, and Alex threw open the rig's door, letting everyone out.

As the doctors took in the carnage before them, he couldn't help to breathe out, "Dude."

"Yeah," Arizona sighed, looking out at the bloodied high schoolers who had managed to exit the bus. "Kids."

Callie worriedly looked towards her ex-wife, anxiously biting her lip. "Well, let's get to it." And, with that, she grabbed her first-aid kit and a tank of oxygen and headed towards the injured teens, collapsed and in shock in the middle of the street. The interns and Alex followed after.

"I'm going to see if I can help get kids out of the bus," Arizona decided.

"I'll go with you," Jackson offered.

"No!" April blurted out, causing her friends to curiously turn towards her. "I'll go. You go help Torres."

Jackson rolled his eyes. "April, I need to go where I'm needed. I —"

"NO!" April repeated. "You are needed away from the busses. I need you away from the busses."

After a silent moment, their eyes meeting in a challenging duel, Jackson sighed in surrender. "I'm going to go triage the kids who already got out."

April exhaled in relief, and Arizona nodded in understanding.

"Be careful," he warned them both, meeting April's eyes for an extra second. If only love had an on and off switch. It'd be far easier.

"We will," Arizona smiled softly, putting her hand on April's shoulder and steering them both towards one of the overturned busses.


"Did we get everyone?" Callie asked a while later, coming up behind April and Alex. Arizona had gone off a few kids who desperately needed urgent care.

"Almost," April responded. "There's a few more in there, and we're trying to break windows to get them out, but…"

"But the engine's already on fire and we smell oil and if we don't hurry, then we're all dead," Alex finished harshly.

Callie's eyes widened. "Let's hurry, then."


All the busses were clear but one. Little by little, the kids who still had heartbeats were loaded onto ambulances as the doctors continued to make sure that their hearts continued beating.

"I got one!" April called, carrying a small unconscious girl towards the ambulances lined up several hundred feet in the other direction. "I'm going to go get her help, then I'll come back and help you get the last of them."

Alex and Callie didn't even acknowledge her with more than weak nods as they worked to continue freeing the three high schoolers still stuck inside.

"Can you move?" Callie asked. "We need to hurry and get you guys out."

"We're stuck!" they responded.

"Cover your faces," Alex instructed.

"What?" they asked.

"Cover your faces!" he repeated, and as soon as they did, he kicked the window with all his might, hoping they would be able to get out that way. It didn't bulge. "Help me!" he called towards Callie.

On the count of three, they both kicked against the glass, effectively shattering it. Finally.

"Can you guys fit through here?" Callie asked urgently. The fire was spreading. She could feel the heat.

"I think so," the boy replied, worming his way through the narrow hole, wincing at the pain of his injuries.

"Okay, good. Good," Callie encouraged, helping him out and onto his feet.

Alex began a primary assessment as Callie crouched in front of the girls still inside. "Girls, come on. We need to get you out."

"We're trying," one assured her, slowly angling herself towards the now missing window.

"I can't!" the other worried. "I'm still stuck between these two seats!"

Callie could feel the fire spreading. She could smell it in the air. She was afraid to look down and see it lapping at her ankles.

Slowly, the first girl managed to get out, her leg appearing to be broken but intact.

"Good," Callie commended as Alex grabbed her and pulled her up, allowing the girl to put her weight on him.

"Torres, we need to get out," Alex encouraged. The fire was spreading towards the wide trail of oil that was sure to send the entire bus — and them — aflame.

"Just a second!" Callie barked, not turning away from the girl still stuck inside. "Hey," she whispered. "What's your name?"

"Jenae," the girl croaked, feeling the bus heat up.

"Torres!" Alex shouted.

"Go on without me!" Callie called behind her. "I'll catch up with you in a minute!"

Normally, Alex would have never left her behind, but he was responsible for two kids, too, now. "I'll be right back," he promised. "I'll come back to help."

Callie nodded, her eyes still trained on Jenae. "Jenae," she smiled. "I'm Callie Torres. We're going to get you out of there, okay? But we need to hurry."

Jenae nodded, equally as desperate to get out as the doctor was to save her. "How?" she whined.

Callie sighed. "I don't know. Give me your hands, okay? You try to push, I'll pull."

The bus was within seconds of exploding. Callie felt it. She knew it. She just knew it. But she couldn't just leave this girl behind. Not when there was still a chance.

"I'm stuck! It hurts!" the girl shrieked.

"I know," Callie apologized sympathetically, but she continued pulling. Life over limb. She just needed to get this girl out and get them both out of there.

"My leg's slipping!" Jenae called. "It's working!"

"Good," Callie muttered as she continued to focus on the task at hand, pulling as hard as she could.

With one final pull, she freed Jenae from between the seats, and the girl was able to crawl through the window with Callie's help. She was, however, too in shock to stand up on her own. Thank god she was small.

"Come on," Callie hoisted the girl up and backed away from the bus. She didn't know where she was going, but she just knew that she had to get them away from the impending explosion.


"I've got two more!" Alex called, heading towards his friends.

"Bring 'em over," April instructed, getting her stethoscope ready to listen for breath sounds and take vitals.

"Where's Callie?" Arizona asked her protégée.

"She's right behind me," Alex assured her, turning back towards the bus to look for Callie, who had promised to be at his heels.

"No, she's not," Arizona argued, her head turning from side to side as she urgently looked for her ex-wife.

Jackson stepped forward in an attempt to go help, but just as he did, he saw and heard the bus explode. They all did. Suddenly, the bus was aflame and shrapnel and glass shards were flying in every direction.

"Get down!" April called.

"WAIT!" Arizona exclaimed. "Callie! No, Callie! CALLIE!" Her face contorting, she ran towards the bus, desperate to help her ex-wife somehow. To save her. But, before she could, Alex caught up to her, wrapping his arms around her and refusing to let go — refusing to let her sacrifice herself in an attempt to save Callie.

If it was too late, then it was too late.

"NO!" Arizona exploded, clawing at Alex, trying to fight her way free of his strong arms. "NO!" She collapsed against him, no longer able to hold herself up.

"Kepner!" Alex called in desperation. "Help me!"

But, a few seconds later, the fire died down enough to see through the blazing smoke to see two forms hobbling towards them.

"Dr. Robbins…" Deluca began.

Jackson caught sight of them and immediately sprinted towards Callie and the girl she was holding up as they both choked on their coughs.

"Get me two gurneys!" he called towards the interns. "And oxygen! And dressings! GO!"

They quickly ran off, and Arizona mournfully lifted her eyes.

And there she was. Callie. Living and breathing.

And falling over.

Arizona tore from Alex's arms, rushing to Callie and helping her down onto the dirty asphalt. "Callie! Callie?! Can you hear me?!"

Callie's eyes fluttered open, looking at Arizona but not really seeing her. "Did you get…" she paused. "Jenae?"

"She's fine," Arizona assured her, giving Callie's body a cursory glance as she checked for severe bleeding. "Can you tell me your name?" she tested.

Callie just groaned, overcome by the pain of her injuries.

"CALLIE!" Arizona screeched, needing a response as she tested Callie's awareness. "Who am I?!"

"Is she okay?!" April asked, rushing towards her friends.

"I — I don't know! Sh — she won't —"

"Let me see," April interrupted as Arizona continued to shake beside her.

"Hey, do we have any Peds doctors here?" a paramedic called towards them.

"Yeah!" Alex yelled. "Robbins and I."

"We've got some kids crashing," the paramedic offered. "We could use your help in rig one and three."

"Coming," Alex assured him, but his feet felt planted to the floor as he looked towards Arizona. "Robbins?" he asked gently, walking over to her. "We've gotta go. There are kids —"

"I can't leave her," Arizona shook her head. She was a good man in a storm. She couldn't leave Callie. She couldn't. Leave her. What if this was the last time she'd ever see her?

"Arizona…" he pleaded.

April stopped her work to reach out and squeeze her best friend's hand. She needed to focus on Callie right then. When the bus had exploded and shrapnel and glass had flown in every direction, much of it had embedded in her chest. It wasn't good. Some was deep enough to warrant surgery to repair the damage. "Arizona," April breathed. "Go. Help the kids. I've got her. I'll save her."

Alex began to lift Arizona from the wet black road, but Arizona fought against him, insisting, "Promise me! Promise me she'll live!"

Alex's eyes flashed to April's, begging his friend to tell his mentor what she needed to hear.

And April was confident. "I promise you. Now go."


In the back of the ambulance, Callie felt one thousand knives of pain stabbing her insides. She lifted the non-rebreather off her face, opening her eyes to take in her surroundings.

"Callie? Callie?" April asked, leaning towards her.

"What —" Callie paused. "What happened?"

April grabbed the non-rebreather, holding it over Callie's face to ensure that she still received the much-needed oxygen. "You were helping a high schooler out of an overturned bus when it exploded. You got hit with glass and shrapnel. You need surgery to get everything out, while making sure you won't bleed out. Do I have your consent?"

Callie paused momentarily, absorbing the information. "Yes. Of course."

April grabbed her hand. "You're going to be fine."

Callie nodded. "Is Ariz—Is everyone else okay?"

"Yes," April promised. Callie hadn't seen Arizona's reaction, but everyone else had. And everyone now knew how much Arizona still loved Callie. Even Arizona.

Callie released a sigh of relief, leaning back against the gurney and allowing April to lower the non-rebreather back over her face. Everyone was okay. Arizona was okay. She would be okay.


Arizona was coping. She was falling apart, but she was capital C Coping. She had to. Kids were counting on her. Parents were counting on her. There were lives at stake.

So she was compartmentalizing. Work now, Callie later.

Callie. Callie. Arizona was cracking over her. She was overcome with her ex-wife again. The woman she loved. It was all-consuming. She was overcome with love. Love she'd forgotten. Love that had taken sick leave while she'd been sick herself.

But it was there. God, she knew then that, more than anything, it was there. She was consumed with love for Callie. And, in that moment, she was in surgery, so she couldn't be there. She couldn't watch Callie's surgery and ensure her safety because there was a kid, lying down in front of her, who needed saving.

So she was compartmentalizing. And it was unbearable.

Finally, as she finished the final stitch and closed up her patient, she headed towards the scrub room, eager to scrub out and finally allow herself space and time to let the tears fall.

Callie would live. She would live. April had promised. Callie would be okay. And, whether she would ever exist with Arizona again, she would exist somewhere. With someone. Happy. And that was enough.

Almost.


Alex raced around the surgical floor, searching in vain for his mentor, when — finally — he found her rushing out of OR 2. "Robbins!" he called.

"Alex!" she exclaimed, meeting him in the middle. "How is she? Is she alive? Is she in surgery? Is she awake?"

Alex grabbed Arizona by the shoulders, hoping to somehow calm her down. He met watery blue eyes. She looked destroyed. She was falling apart at the seams. Unable to function. Grieving for a love she only then realized she'd lost. Grieving for the potential loss of Callie — not only as the woman she loved, but as a human who undeniably changed the world daily, by merely existing.

She had changed the world that day, after all. She had saved a high schooler who would have died otherwise.

And she had changed Arizona. She had changed her from the very first time Arizona had laid eyes on her. And ever since.

"Are you ready?" Alex asked, his hands tightening on Arizona's arms in an attempt at comfort.

"Yes. No. Wait," she took a deep breath. "Is it bad?"

"No," Alex swore. "She's in recovery."

Arizona's eyes widened before, instantly, she fell apart. Her hands covered her face as she began to sob in relief and — not knowing what to do — Alex pulled her to him in a brotherly hug.

The blonde wrapped her arms around her friend, holding on for dear life. She wished she were holding Callie.

"You still love her," Alex observed. It wasn't a question.

Arizona nodded against his chest. She did. With every fiber of her being. And she had no idea how she was only just then realizing it.

"I'll take you to her," Alex offered gruffly, his hand coming to softly lay against Arizona's back as he lead her towards Callie's recovery room.

When they reached Callie's room, April was just slipping out. "Hey," she smiled softly as she saw her best friend's face. "You okay?"

Arizona nodded. She was okay. She had to be. For Callie. "Can I see her?"

April nodded softly. It all made sense then. Arizona's strange behavior around her ex. She'd loved her. She'd never stopped. "Page me if you need anything," she squeezed Arizona's shoulder, pulling Alex with her in order to give Arizona the space they both knew she needed.

Taking a deep breath, Arizona opened the door.

And there Callie was. Still unconscious and severely bruised, but there. Breathing: her chest moving up and down. Existing. Making the world Arizona knew and loved continue turning. Because a world without Callie wasn't one in which Arizona wished to exist.

Because Callie was her world. How had she only seen that when her ex-wife had nearly ceased to exist all together?

She hated what had happened that night just as much as she was grateful for it.

Because right then she knew. She was in love with Calliope Torres. She always had been, in the same way that she always would be.

Arizona didn't know what to do. More than anything, she wanted to run up to Callie and kiss her and cling to her and feed off of her warmth.

But she didn't have the right. Did she? She was Callie's ex-wife. Sofia's mom. Nothing more.

Callie herself had proven to her that nothing in their once beautiful relationship was sacred. She had moved on. She had dated Penny — loved her even — for a long while, several months before. And Penny had called her "Calliope" and that had been okay.

It wasn't okay to Arizona. Especially not then.

Because Arizona still loved her. And Callie — Calliope — was meant for her. Just as she was once meant for Callie.

She hoped that, somehow, Callie would still think they were meant for one each other. She would, right? She would. Maybe.


Finally, Arizona resorted to pulling up a chair beside her ex-wife's hospital bed, cradling one soft caramel hand between each of her own.

The entire situation felt oddly like the aftermath of the car crash. And it was unbearable. How did Callie keep ending up in her shaking hands?

She reverently stroked her ex-wife's skin with her thumbs, reveling in the feeling. She'd missed her.

She did miss her. Still.

And that's what she'd say, as soon as Callie woke up.


What felt like hours later, Arizona finally caught sight of Callie's eyes fluttering open as she stirred: waking up from the anesthesia.

Callie, squinting against bright lights, looked down at her hand, enveloped between two ivory surgeon hands that she had memorized.

Arizona.

She looked up and into beautiful, beautiful clear cerulean eyes. Towards pink cheeks and chapped lips.

She took in the whiteness of the room. She was dead, wasn't she? She had to be.

Why else would Arizona be there?

Callie had to be in Heaven. This was her Heaven, wasn't it?

But where was Mark? And where was Sofia?

"Hi," Arizona breathed at last, finding her voice. Callie. She was awake. She was alive.

Callie felt her lips turn up into a smile. Heaven. Arizona's voice was heaven. And she had this white glow around her, illuminating her in Callie's blurry eyes. "I always knew you were an angel," she croaked.

Arizona laughed and, midway through, it turned into a sob. "You're not dead, Calliope," she whispered, gratefully squeezing a strong hand. She lifted the hand up to her lips, placing a soft kiss over her knuckles. "Thank you for not being dead."

"Hey…" Callie breathed as she watched blue eyes fill with tears. "I'm okay. It's okay."

And, with that, Arizona collapsed. Completely fell apart. Crumbled. Fell over Callie's arm: weeping.

"Arizona…" Callie whispered. "Look at me." What was going on? Why was Arizona crying?

Arizona looked up and into delicious chocolate eyes, feeling a sudden sense of calm flow through her. Callie was looking at her with so much kindness and concern, even despite everything.

"It's not okay," Arizona argued, wiping at her nose with her sleeve. "It's not."

Callie knit her eyebrows together. "What? What's not?"

Arizona shook her head, attempting to find a way to say it. She didn't know what to say. Nothing? Everything?

She looked down, her fingers tracing abstract patterns on her ex-wife's hand. "How much I miss you," she admitted. Hesitantly, she looked up, once again meeting Callie's eyes. "I miss you," she repeated. "And love you, and want you, and," she looked down, focusing on Callie's hand. "I thought — I thought you were gone."

Callie's eyes widened. After the last two years, that had been the last thing she'd ever expected to hear. "Arizona?" she waited for blue eyes to meet hers, but to no avail. "Arizona, look at me."

Gulping, Arizona's eyes snapped up to curious brown orbs, her heart stuttering at their intensity. A caramel hand shakily pulled out of Arizona's tight grasp to wipe away at her falling tears. She couldn't help it. She couldn't stand seeing the woman in pain. What had happened?

As Arizona felt the warmth of Callie's skin against hers, she couldn't hold back the shuddering breath that escaped her lips as she closed her eyes and leaned into the welcome touch.

Callie's eyes were still trained on her as Arizona opened them, reaching out to grab her hand yet again. She needed the comfort. She needed the strength. "Callie," she breathed.

How was she supposed to say how she felt? What she needed to say? How could she explain how deeply Callie had made her mark? How Callie had left Arizona's heart tender for her. With a bruise of longing. With a breath of unfinished business.

How could she explain that Callie's presence was a quiet rhythm, a salve to her soul, a hum of comfort? A fire in both her heart and in her hearth, keeping her warm and comfortable.

How could she describe it? Emotion. Want. Ache. Love. The oxygen she couldn't fully inhale without Callie by her side.

It all made sense then. All the pain. The hurt.

Callie was her true love. It was something she'd always known. And Arizona had screwed it up. But she hadn't realized that she could unscrew it up. Or, not that so much as replace their former love with something so, so much better. If she only tried.

She exhaled a tremulous breath, her eyes never breaking from Callie's. To have her ex-wife look at her, like this, fully seeing her after so much time…

She felt a shiver run down her spine.

She and Callie were just meant to be. They were inevitable. It was that simple.

Some aspects in the universe just were meant tocome together again and again. Endlessly. Ceaselessly.

And they were one of them. They were an aspect of the universe that should not exist separately but together.

Like the planets were meant to orbit the sun, they were meant to orbit each other. Arizona was sure of it.

"Callie," Arizona began, reaching out to lovingly tuck a strand of hair behind Callie's ear, buying herself time. She sighed. "I messed up. I loved you more than anything. More than I could never love anyone. And I betrayed you."

Callie's wide eyes remained trained on her, filled with a mixture of curiosity and warning.

Arizona took a deep breath. "And I can never take back how…unrecognizable I was. How much I hurt and how much I hurt you. But I can tell you how much it breaks me that I did something so horrible to the woman I love."

Callie gulped, her heart taking off in her chest. She had waited for this for so long: a genuine apology. Words that felt like more than words.

"Because I love you. I love you, Calliope," she continued, and Callie shivered at the way Arizona always made the word "love" and her name sound like a song.

God. She'd never thought she'd hear those words. "I love you." Ever again. And she never thought they'd sound like this. So fresh and so true that she genuinely believed them. With all that she was.

She felt an odd sense of deja vu flow through her. Had April mentioned Arizona during the ambulance ride? Something about…her breaking down? Running towards the flaming bus? Running towards her? For her? Risking it all?

"And I'm sorry that I…forgot. But I remember now. You are the love of my life. You are the only woman I ever want to love." She bit her bottom lip, carefully watching Callie's stone-still face.

Listening to Arizona's euphonious voice, Callie was shocked by her words. Blissfully, blissfully shocked. Because, really, that was what she had yearned for. For an honest, true apology. For Arizona to be as committed to Callie as Callie had always been to Arizona.

Love and redamancy. Reciprocity. Duality and oneness.

As she caught sight of the blonde's nervous and hopeful smile, Callie's heart burst in joy.

Arizona made her happy. She always had. It was as simple as that.

As Callie's lips turned up — just the slightest bit — Arizona felt a sense of numbing wonder fill her heart. That was good, right? Callie's reaction?

With her heart pounding in her ears, Arizona continued, "I thought you were dead. For a second…I thought you were gone. And I realized that I can't live without you. I don't want to. You make my life better just by existing, but I want you with me." She looked up shyly. "I'm happiest with you. I'm…complete. With you."

Callie tightly squeezed Arizona's hand before retracting it, and the blonde's face fell in defeat.

Of course Callie didn't feel the same. It was too late. She was too late. It was too much to ask for. Another shot.

But Callie wasn't pulling away. It wasn't that. It was that holding her hand wasn't enough.

Callie wanted all of Arizona. She reached towards her, her arm outstretched, her hand — an olive branch — extended as it ran over her ex-wife's right knee, her shoulder, her arm. How long had it been? She'd ached for Arizona — for her body, for her mind, for her rivaling soul — and she'd forced herself to forget. To forget. To ignore the ache. The twinge. The cramp. The pang. Because she hadn't been given another option.

Until then. Because Arizona had admitted that Callie completed her in the way that she completed Callie.

That they were made for each other.

"Callie…?" Arizona interrupted the silence, pleading for words.

"What are you saying?" Callie intoned.

Arizona exhaled a calming breath. "I'm saying I love you. I still love you. And I'm asking for you to put some faith in me. To trust that I'll protect your heart this time and that I'll love you every second. To trust that — even when I hate you — I'll love you even more."

Callie felt her entire body buzzing. Humming. Thrumming.

Positively tingling.

Because that was a heady promise, but one that she somehow trusted Arizona to keep.

"I trust you," Callie promised in return. "Now. With my heart. With everything." She watched as Arizona sighed in relief. She must have been waiting for those words for a long time. She must have been waiting for forgiveness for longer. "And I love you — I still love you — too." She reached for Arizona's smaller hand, gently scooting towards the edge of the narrow hospital bed as she pulled her ex-wife — the woman she loved — onto her feet.

Arizona looked at her in question. She wanted to feel relieved, but she needed to hear the words. She needed words before she could allow herself to breathe. "What are you saying?" she countered.

Callie smiled genuinely then, feeling her full, untainted smile come out of hibernation. "I'm saying I don't want to settle for loving anyone else. You are the love of my life, and I only want you."

As Arizona's dimples finally lit up her face, and Callie playfully yanked on her arm again, encouraging the blonde to lay down beside her.

"Are you sure?" Arizona whispered, suddenly nervous. She'd yearned for Callie for so long, and she was only just then realizing it. But it was all-consuming. And all-terrifying. Every nerve in her body felt like the moment before the match burst into flame.

"Arizona. Yes," Callie assured her. Suddenly, all she could think about was Arizona's tender form molding to hers. "Please."

That was all the encouragement Arizona needed, and gingerly, she settled beside Callie, close enough that she felt the weight of her shoulder, and forearm, and hip, and thigh, and toes against her own. She turned onto her side, carousing in the view of the brunette's profile,in her scent, and in her presence altogether. She ducked her head, placing a sweet kiss on her shoulder.

Callie turned her head and watched the blonde, their faces so close that she could see nothing else. She lifted her arm and wrapped it around Arizona, pulling her impossibly closer.

Warmth. Warmth was all that filled her.

"Sofia's at Meredith's," Arizona explained before Callie could panic. "I kind of, um, had a breakdown. So she offered to take Sof."

"Oh, good," Callie sighed, just enjoying the silence for several moments. "We'll get her tomorrow."

Arizona smirked. "No, I'll get her tomorrow. You won't be leaving this bed for a while."

"Right," Callie remembered. The surgery. She'd forgotten already. The day had felt like a lifetime.

"Callie?" Arizona began meekly.

"Hmm?"

"I'm really glad you didn't die." The words sounded almost comical, but they were true. So true. Arizona wouldn't have lived if Callie had died.

Just as Callie wouldn't have lived in Arizona had died after the plane crash. Life would have been unbearable.

Callie burrowed her nose into feathery blonde hair. She'd missed this. The feeling of lying with the person who had both the power to heal and destroy her, but who had chosen to provide her nothing to goodness. To love her indefinitely, and to never hurt her on purpose. "Me, too." If she had died, she never would have gotten this.

And this was something she wanted to marvel at forever. Arizona. She wanted to marvel at Arizona. Forever.

Arizona pushed herself up on her arm, raising herself up above Callie to face her head on. As her other hand came up to trace the new worry and laughter lines she hadn't yet memorized, she heard Callie's breath hitch, her eyes becoming lidded at the sweet, delicious feeling of the woman she loved caressing her skin with all the gentility in the world.

"I love you," Arizona breathed, her sweet breath running over Callie's lips.

Callie opened her eyes, contently perusing Arizona's expressive face. She couldn't tell whether her heart was thrumming in her chest with anxiety or whether it had slowed as she surrendered to a sense of calm. She was both overwhelmed by Arizona's sudden companionship and completely sated by it.

Both nervous and frenzied and agitated and soothed and serene and calm.

Slowly, Arizona leaned closer, wanting — more than anything — to capture Callie's full lips in her own, but she also felt overwhelmed by the fact that the kiss — this kiss — would likely be the last first kiss either of them would ever have. Because, like their first initial kiss in the dirty bar bathroom at Joe's, this felt new.

It had been two years, after all. They were different people. It was new.

"Arizona," Callie whimpered. She was tingling in anticipation. Between their steady eye contact, their whispered words, and the fact that Arizona was right there, with her, loving her entirely, Callie could feel her entire body hum with how much she wanted the blonde. With how much she just…wanted. Wanted.

Arizona smirked, but really, she herself was almost overwhelmed with the electricity she could feel flowing between them. It had been so long.

Finally, she lowered her head, effectively brushing Callie's lips with her own.

Callie brought a hand up to clutch the back of Arizona's neck, forcing pink lips to keep their hold on hers. She kissed the blonde, and she forgot every other mouth. She kissed her mouth as if it was the only one her lips had ever touched.

And, in a way, it was. No one else compared. No one else could ever compare.

Arizona kissed Callie with everything she had, hungrily inhaling her contented sigh. She was in bliss.

Arizona kissed her with her honeyed face in her hands.

Callie kissed her, grabbing her waist and pulling her closer. Heaven.

They took their time.

They had the rest of their lives to go.