A/N: Our story ends with a nod towards episode 05x17 "Rise Up".
Epilogue
White House, Washington DC, USA
Arizona, Ben, and Lexie were already in the small waiting room outside the Oval Office where they were due to meet President Yang.
"Seriously...where are Sloan and Torres?" Lexie said as she paced up and down the room clearly nervous ahead of their meeting with President Yang.
"Lexie," Arizona said with a small chuckle, "sit down before you wear a hole in the carpet!"
The young IT officer stopped pacing as instructed by her boss. "What? Oh right...sure," she said nervously as she took a seat next to Ben who appeared to be the complete opposite. "How are you always so chilled Warren," she asked her colleague in a slightly annoyed tone.
Ben smiled. "Because I'm old, Grey," he replied with a friendly reassuring smile. The truth was he was bouncing with excitement inside, but he had a reputation as Mr. Chilled to maintain.
Arizona checked the time, Lexie was right, Callie and Mark were cutting it pretty close. They had been told to arrive early to get through security, but with five minutes to go before their allotted meeting time they were nowhere to be seen.
Where the hell are you guys? Ax
Arizona tapped out a quick text and had just pressed the send button when she heard her answer in the form of the comedy wolf whistle tone that Callie had allocated against Arizona's contact details for a joke. Turning towards the direction of the sound she saw the pair of the FBI Agents hurrying down the corridor, Callie mouthing the word sorry to her as she tucked her blouse into her skirt.
They had been back just over a week and this was the first time the team had all been together again. Arizona had taken some time off to sit down with Tom and work things through face-to-face. They had decided that Tom would keep the house and so she had spent a couple of days looking for a new place to live before she had made the dreaded journey home to tell her mum about the divorce. Turns out Barbara was way more understanding than she had imagined and had said she had known that Tom was not right for her. Arizona had questioned why her mom never said anything before she had gotten married and the older blonde had said that her daughter was just like her father, stubborn as anything. Arizona had been pretty stubborn growing up, but had chilled a bit as she got older. Seeing the things she saw with her work, really did help put things into perspective. Her mom was probably right. At that time Arizona had been determined to marry Tom and make it work.
Arizona and Callie had face-timed most days, sometimes into the early hours, filling each other in on their days. Callie would show Arizona the hundreds of selfies Mark had sent from Italy of him and Carina. The FBI Agent had it bad according to Callie and had been bugging her for Italian lessons every day since his return.
Arizona stood up and greeted the pair with a full dumped smile. "Finally!" she said, "where were you?" she asked as she took in Callie properly. God she looked hot. Arizona should have been cross, but she was too busy trying to stop herself from jumping the brunette there and then.
"Blame Miss Fussy over there!" Mark remarked as he greeted Lexie and Ben with warm hugs as if they were old friends. "She must have changed her outfit at least ten times!"
"And?" Callie had protested shooting her partner an evil look before adding with a smile, "I mean it's not every day you get to meet the President of the United States…so I needed to look good right?" she explained, raising an eyebrow in Mark's direction.
Arizona lent in close and whispered in Callie's ear, "you look amazing," before stepping back and putting some distance between them. But not before she saw the slight blush appear on the brunette's cheeks. They had a lot of catching up to do, to make up for lost time and as Arizona held Callie's gaze she knew the FBI agent was having the same naughty thoughts as she was at that moment.
Just then the two huge doors to the Oval Office opened and out walked the President's Chief of Staff who greeted everyone with a warm smile.
"Welcome guys. We're really pleased you could join us today, the President is super excited to meet you, please...follow me".
Arizona and Callie exchanged excited looks with each other - the President was excited to meet them? Was she kidding?
The team followed the woman through the doors and into the famous room where President Christina Yang was resting on the edge of her desk.
Arizona couldn't help but feel a little star-struck at the sight of the President, of whom she was a huge fan. As employees of the Agency, they were supposed to be bipartisan, but the blonde had thrown all her support to the young Asian candidate when she had confirmed she was running for the top job. How could she not support the best chance to have a female president for the first time ever? Tom had disagreed with her claiming Yang didn't have enough experience to deal with the challenges that came with the job. He has been made to eat his words over the way the President had handled the response to the bombing, even though she was privately grieving the loss of her beloved niece.
"Ah welcome, welcome everyone," President Yang said as she looked over in the direction of the door that had opened and at the five slightly petrified faces. "Please take a seat," she said as she gestured towards the chairs and sofa by the fireplace.
Chief Webber, Director Bailey, and Director Shephard were already in the room, sitting on the huge sofas along with the Secretary of Defense.
Expecting Webber or Shephard to introduce the team, the CIA officer had been blown away when President Yang had walked over and introduced herself to them individually using their names, starting with Arizona.
"Special Operations Officer Robbins...what can I say? Directors Webber and Bailey have only just stopped singing your praises. I know this wasn't an easy case and the fact that Ahmed is back safely on these shores to face trial is thanks to your team leadership."
Arizona swallowed the large lump that had formed in her throat and opened her mouth to speak, praying to God that words came out and that those words made sense. "It was a huge team effort, Ma'am," Arizona responded, slightly embarrassed at the President's comments.
"Yes of course, but I understand that at times you had to make some tough calls and I know how that can feel. I have already passed on my thanks to Director Montgomery and my condolences to the DeLuca family for their loss. Agent Andrea DeLuca was instrumental in Ahmed's capture, it's just a shame he wasn't here to see justice be served. But I understand that his sister Carina had agreed to take part in a new exchange programme with the FBI and Interpol, and so will be spending time in Washington soon."
Callie looked over at Mark at this news that she had not heard yet. Her partner was smiling like the cat had got the cream. He had discussed the future with Carina whilst he was in Italy and they had come up with the exchange idea, but he had not known it had been approved until President Yang had informed the group. Carina was moving to the States!
The brunette was smiling at her partner who was normally Mr. Cool, but when it came to Carina, all of that well-tuned composure and act went flying out the window. "And Agent Torres…," Callie felt her heart stop momentarily at the mention of her name, "...how are you? I hear it was quite a fall?"
Wow! The President really did know her stuff! Callie thought to herself as she momentarily pictured Abu's fist connecting with her face before she started tumbling down the stairs. "Oh, I'm all fine Madam President, thank you for asking."
"Excellent! Pleased to hear it!" Cristina Yang answered with a nod before she chatted briefly to Mark, Ben, and Lexie.
After 10 minutes, the press secretary stood up to indicate their time was up and as the group started to make their way out of the historic room, President Yang spoke one last time.
"I know you all know how important it was that Ahmed was captured and faced reality for his act of terrorism," Christina Yang was now standing in the middle of the Oval Office, the emotion clearly audible in her words. "Speaking as a member of a family that is still very much grieving the loss of a loved one, it brings us an element of comfort….so thank you. Thank you from me, from my family, and on behalf of Gabriella and everyone else that lost their lives that day."
###
Arizona and Callie found themselves alone for the first time since they had returned from Seville. All the others had already left the building and had not really noticed the two women staying behind. As they rode the lift down to the ground floor Arizona turned and faced the FBI Agent.
"So, Calliope...if you're up for it,...I'd like to take you to dinner," the blonde asked somewhat nervously. This moment had been a long time coming and a lot has changed, but Arizona wanted to do it right. She wanted to show Callie how serious she was about this, about them. Sure, she had a lot to sort out, finalising her divorce from Tom. But she needed the hot Latina to know she was definitely not a rebound thing, to know how deep her feelings went.
Callie turned to face the blonde, blue eyes twinkling in her direction expectantly. Being together with Arizona again was a huge deal for Callie. Massive. On that walk from the club to the CIA officer's apartment, she had gone over and over the risks involved, the risks of her heart getting broken again. The prospect of more pain terrified the brunette. She had spent the past six years going out of her way to avoid developing any meaningful feelings towards someone new. And yet here she was after just a few weeks of being in Arizona's company again, and her walls had come crashing down leaving her feeling so exposed. But, as daunting as it was, it also felt incredibly right. She was still happy that she had decided to take a leap of faith with Arizona.
Arizona knew this, she could see Callie's insecurities and after their return from Seville, they had talked every day about taking it slowly. About how committed they were to do whatever it took to make it work out this time. This was what Callie had needed to hear. And Arizona would tell her every day if that was what Callie needed.
Arizona wasn't perfect, she had made mistakes, but so had Callie. And realistically, the FBI agent knew there would be times in the future where one of them might mess up again, but she also knew that the next time would be different. They had grown and changed over the past six years and learned from their past mistakes. Callie had to believe this would work.
That last night in Seville, Callie had needed Arizona to tell her how she felt about her before she had let her guard down. It had taken her going to that apartment to confront the blonde before she had confessed her feelings. It was the epitome of meeting each other halfway and it had given Callie plenty of hope for the future, a future with Arizona in it.
Callie now knew that Arizona had been raised not to show emotions, to hide them away. And for this to work, the brunette knew she was going to have to push occasionally. She would have to nudge Arizona to be open and honest about her feelings like she had finally done in Seville.
And in return, Callie would feel safe enough to love and be loved again. Callie had spent the past six years behind a wall, a wall she had built after what had happened with Arizona. She knew deep down that Arizona Robbins was the only person on the planet that could bring that wall down and provide Callie with the love she needed to be fully happy again.
The elevator pinged to signal the ground floor where Callie needed to exit. Arizona was going down to the car park in the basement. She could see how nervous Arizona was as she waited for a response to her invitation, the blonde's fingers absentmindedly playing with the green necklace as her eyes searched the brunettes for clues. Callie thought it was cute how nervous Arizona was. It was another sign to her of just how much the CIA officer wanted this.
Pulling a nonchalant face, Callie shrugged her shoulders before responding casually. "Maybe."
"Maybe?" Arizona replied in confusion as the doors started to open.
The FBI Agent turned to face the blonde. "Yeah, my schedule is kinda insane right now…..so I'll umm get back to you," Callie said casually trying her hardest to keep the smirk off her face as she walked out of the lift leaving the blonde alone wondering what the hell that meant.
Arizona's mind was doing overtime as she watched Callie walk through the lift doors. Shit! Was the brunette having second thoughts about her? Callie had worried that Arizona had slept with her as a rebound, but maybe...maybe Callie had just slept with Arizona to settle an old score? Or to scratch an itch that had been bugging her for the last six years? Fuck….maybe she had been played by Callie and the connection she had felt that night in Seville as their bodies had reacquainted with each other, had all been in her head.
Arizona was still in deep panic mode when the doors started to slowly close. Just before they slammed shut, an arm came flying through the ever decreasing gap, generating a loud ping as the metal lift doors slid back open again and Arizona was greeted by Callie's smiling face.
"How's tomorrow?"
THE END
A/N: We hope you enjoyed our story and it put a smile on your face. A few people have suggested we carry the story on, and as great as it is to read that there is interest to keep it going, Maaike83 and I always planned on a short story, 20 chapters max. We haven't added drama to stretch the story out, we decided early on how we wanted the story to go, stuck to it, and worked hard to post regularly.
Earlier in the year I said I was stopping writing FF, but I couldn't turn down the opportunity to write this collab story with Maaike83, and it has been a complete pleasure. Thank you, Maaike.
And thank you, Babyjamo!
