In Washington an uncontested divorce could be handled in as little as three months.
A contested divorce could take a year or more.
Callie had never been more grateful in her life for someone when George didn't contest the divorce. He didn't seek anything from her either. Even after finding out just how much there was to seek.
Standing in the living room of the apartment she rented across from the hospital, she held her divorce papers in her hand. She had expected to feel emotional around seeing them, but she didn't expect the feeling of loss that currently sat just behind her ribs.
She made her way over to the bigger of the two couches and sat in the middle. She tossed the papers on her coffee table after reading them over and having to stop, because the tears blocked her vision. She grabbed a tissue and wiped at her eyes. Already she was angry with herself for being emotional over this. She didn't feel she had any right to grieve a marriage she hadn't gone in for the right reasons in the first place.
"Damnit," she groaned as she grabbed another tissue to try and stop the crying.
This should be a happy moment, she tried to convince herself. She was free from a marriage neither she nor George wanted. She was free to date the person that she had been dancing around for the last three months.
She managed a soft smile as she thought of Arizona.
Arizona had been her rock since she rolled into town. They had become fast friends and then something more than friends without crossing a line they both edged themselves up to. Since she showed up at Arizona's apartment, the line had become all the more clear and someone moved farther from where it was. During the divorce, Arizona allowed some on-call room cuddling. They held hands more than a few times when Arizona was over to watch a movie, and they had what she was sure Arizona would consider a date with any other woman at least once a week for the last three months.
No kissing though.
No hands in places she had only explored on herself and not another woman.
No stepping over the line even if that line had moved.
It did give her a chance to heal though. A chance to get her emotions over why she had jumped into marriage straight in her head. A chance to figure out who she was now that she was an attending. A chance to figure out, with way too many late night half drunk adult video viewings with Mark, that she was definitively not straight. She and Arizona had talked a bit about a vague future where things could be different, but they mostly stuck to personal growth and her spilling her guts to Arizona about everything but Arizona.
And now, papers certified by a judge, she was divorced and free to do what she wanted.
The only problem was she wasn't sure how to do any of this. How did a woman ask another woman out on a date? How did a woman who was newly divorced ask one of their best friends who had been their rock since they met out? She picked her phone and started to Google pickup lines but quickly found that to be unhelpful.
She sighed before just texting Arizona and asking her to come over after her shift. When Arizona confirmed she was free, happy to come over, and willing to bring pizza and beer, Callie's mood brightened.
Now to just figure out how to be bisexual in the next five hours.
/
"Hey," Callie opened the door when she heard a knock. She smiled wide at Arizona who was carrying a six pack and pizza as promised.
"This was a perfectly timed offer," Arizona said. She walked in and set the pizza and beer on the island before taking her jacket off and hanging it up. "I was charting and doing paperwork all day."
"Being a department head sounds like a blast," Callie teased. She grabbed them a couple of plates and opened two beers with a bottle opener before flipping open the box. "Pepperoni and mushrooms, the best pizza."
"You know it," Arizona said. She stepped next to Callie to grab herself a couple of pieces and one of the opened beers.
They headed over to the larger couch and took up residence at either end. Both used the arms as a backrest as they sat with their legs toward the other. It had become a habit for them to sit this way while they were eating, so they could look at each other.
Halfway through her second slice, Callie finally told Arizona the news.
"The papers came today," Callie said before taking a long pull from her beer. "I'm officially divorced."
Arizona looked up at Callie with slightly wide eyes. She took another bite of pizza to give herself a little more time to figure out how to reply to the news Callie was single again. She had been waiting for this day for months and now it was sitting right in front of her.
"I waited," Arizona whispered after she took a drink from her own beer. "You asked me to."
Callie put her beer on the floor and her plate on the coffee table. "Come here." She opened her arms to give Arizona a clue of what she wanted.
Arizona set her beer and pizza down before moving to sit between Callie's legs with her back to Callie's front. It was somehow felt easier to talk about this with a pair of strong arms around her waist. She closed her eyes as tried to ready herself for the conversation that was about to happen.
"I was a mess three months ago." Callie rested her chin on Arizona's shoulder. "Everything in my life that could go wrong, did. Residency was kicking my ass, my marriage was falling apart, and I had feelings for someone I knew I shouldn't because I was married and wasn't sure if I could handle being with another woman. But all of that was three months ago."
"It was," Arizona whispered as she tried not to shiver at the way Callie's body so perfectly wrapped around her. "Three very long months ago."
"I don't know if what we're doing is dating or friendship or some weird blending of the two," Callie admitted. "But I like holding your hand on my couch when you come over to watch a movie. I like when I'm in an on call room and you come in and lay down with your head on my shoulder. I like it when you smile at me. I like you, Arizona."
"Dating another woman isn't friendship with making out," Arizona said after a few moments of thought. "It's not just hanging out and then going to bed together. There is talking and processing and checking in with each other. There is sharing clothes and both of you remembering the big dates. There aren't the same kind of gender roles. Who opens the doors and who kills the bugs and who tops who in bed is decided between the two in the relationship. It's all a negotiation. Sometimes with just a look and sometimes with a long talk."
Callie considered what Arizona was laying out for her. In the last three months, she was pretty sure she and Arizona did more talking than she did with George or the three prior boyfriends she had before him put together. "If the last three months have taught me anything, it's taught me I want more with you than being friends. I think about you. I think about the way your smile looks when your dimples pop. I think about how your ass looks when you walk away from me without your lab coat on. I think about kissing you. A lot."
Arizona closed her eyes when she felt Callie's lips pressed to her jaw. "You like my ass, huh?" She asked as she shivered when Callie nipped at her jaw slightly.
"I do," Callie said against Arizona's skin. "I'm not saying I'm going to get it all right but just give me a chance and an assist if I need one?"
Arizona shifted until she was turned sideways in Callie's lap. She was glad Callie's arms stayed around her to keep her close, there was comfort there, safety there. "I wouldn't have waited three months unless I was sure about my feelings. And I am sure, Calliope."
"We've had enough dinners at my place or yours, enough movie nights, enough quiet moments. Let me take you on a date?" Callie asked.
"Yes. I'd love to." Arizona stroked over Callie's cheek with the back of her hand. She was split between kissing Callie now and waiting until the date Callie just asked her on. Then she remembered the open mouth kisses Callie so expertly placed on her neck from months ago. She turned her hand to cup Callie's cheek before locking her blue eyes to brown to give Callie time to shake her head no.
Callie didn't though. She leaned in to meet Arizona halfway. Her right arm sliding back from around Arizona's waist so she could rest her hand on her hip. The kiss started off tentative but didn't stay that way for long.
"Yeah, totally not straight," Callie breathed out when the kiss broke.
"Awesome," Arizona laughed as she ran a hand through her hair. "I would be kind of crushed if a kiss like that made you realize you were straight."
Callie tucked a bit of hair back behind Arizona's ear. "Kissing you feels good. Really good." She rubbed over Arizona's hip as the pair sat tangled up together. "I just wish figuring out everything else when it comes to dating women was that easy."
"You should use me." Arizona ran her thumb over the curve of Callie's jaw. "I can answer any questions you have."
"I can just Google it," Callie mumbled.
"Google is a terrible way to find out about women who date other women. I know the urge to Google is strong but there are better resources. Like the person with years of experience being out and dating women sitting in your lap." Arizona's dimples were on full display when she smiled.
"I feel like I'm sixteen again," Callie wrapped her arms back around Arizona's waist so she could rest her head against her shoulder.
"In a lot of ways you are," Arizona said as she stroked through Callie's hair. "You're relearning what you thought you knew about yourself. You're relearning how to flirt and go on dates and have sex and all that comes with dating."
Callie bit her lip, not wanting to ask, but not wanting to Google it anymore either. "How does sex work? The only time I've seen girl on girl is in porn, and that can't be accurate."
Arizona kept waving her fingers through Callie's hair to keep them both in a state of relaxation. "Well, there is a lot touching and kissing. A lot of communication." She chuckled as her blunt fingernails scrapped over Callie's scalp. "In my own experience and talking to friends? It lasts longer and is more of an event with woman than men. There can be quickies but for me it's way less common."
"An event?" Callie questioned.
"Multiple orgasms," Arizona said.
"Oh," Callie smiled against Arizona's shoulder. "That does sound like an event."
"I'm not saying every time is a perfect or magical moment. But I try not to race to the end. I try to communicate and both give and take to make sure my partner and I are both really happy at the end of it," Arizona said as she ran her fingers over the back of Callie's neck. "Like really happy."
Callie kept her head down because she knew her cheeks were bright red. "I've had my share of sex. But most of it was good to fine. Some great and some really not great. Everything you're saying sounds pretty awesome." She used one of Arizona's words to make her point.
"Girl sex is awesome," Arizona confirmed authoritatively.
"I believe you," Callie whispered. She was quiet for a long moment before speaking again. "I've had all those thoughts and feelings in my head for years and never really understood or listened to them. And now I'm sitting here on this couch with you in my lap, and I get those thoughts and all those feelings. I get I like woman as much as I like men now. And I like you more than I like anyone else."
Arizona closed her eyes as she moved her head to rest against Callie's. She took a breath to try and steady her racing heart. "I like you, Calliope. A lot. It's been a very long time since I waited for someone the way I waited for you."
"We've half dated for months," Callie said as she reached her hand out to find Arizona's to tangle their fingers together.
"Half," Arizona agreed. "I don't want half of you, Calliope. I want all of you to have all of me."
"You have all of me," Callie promised as her head lifted up. "I might not be ready to take you to bed, but I am ready to go on a real date with you."
"Speaking of a real date," Arizona said. "If someone you know sees us out together, I need to know how you want me to play it."
"Play it?" Callie asked, not understanding.
"I've been out of the closet since I was a teenager," Arizona said as she looked into Callie's eyes. "I don't love the idea of being back in the closet, but I don't want to shove you out of it before you're ready either."
"Oh," Callie whispered. "I hadn't thought of that." She hesitated for a moment as she thought of what to say. "I don't want to force you back in the closet. I don't care what most people think. Mark and Bailey already know, Mark because I told him, and Bailey because she saw me looking at your ass one day. But I also don't want to have our relationship as public and talked about as my relationship with George."
"I don't make it a habit of airing my dirty laundry out at the hospital," Arizona pointed out. "If you want to just be together and if people ask I answer and if they don't I don't say anything, we can do that. If you want to hold hands walking in tomorrow, we can do that too. If you want to take a few months to see how we go and then decide to come out that works too. Coming out can't be my choice for you, it has to be your choice for yourself."
Callie looked at their joined hands and thought about her answer. The way that Arizona's hand fit into hers gave her a bit of a thrill. "You'd walk into the hospital holding my hand tomorrow?"
"I would," Arizona answered honestly.
Callie brought their joined hands up to kiss the back of Arizona's before looking into her eyes. "I don't want to hide this. We've been almost dating for months. I want this. And for me wanting this means not denying it if someone asks, holding your hand when I want to, and being true to my feelings."
Arizona leaned forward to kiss Callie firmly. She deepened the kiss for a moment before she pulled back. "You, Calliope Torres, are something else," she whispered before flashing a dimpled grin.
"Turn around again so I can hold you?" Callie offered. She wrapped her arms around Arizona again with her chin back on Arizona's shoulder.
"I think we've settled who the big spoon is," Arizona said.
"I'm taller," Callie shrugged even if a smile came to her lips at the idea.
"You are. Strong too with ortho and all. All the power tools and the bone breaking does a body good," Arizona laughed. She reached out for her beer and took a drink from the bottle.
"Being in ortho does lead to a pair of very strong hands." Callie held her right out in front of herself to look at it.
For the next several hours they just sat and talked about anything and everything. Sitting together, it struck Callie just how easy this was. There wasn't a need to keep talking or to make Arizona happy in some way she never quite managed with her other partners. Arizona hadn't asked her to change who she was, just untangle herself from mistakes that no one else could free her from.
"I hate to do this," Arizona said as she checked her watch. "But I have to be at the hospital at six tomorrow."
"I have to be in early too," Callie checked and saw how late it had gotten. "Meet me for coffee before we get started?"
"Quarter to six at the entryway coffee cart?" Arizona suggested.
"I'll be there." Callie stood after Arizona got off of the couch.
Callie and Arizona walked to the door. Callie wasn't quite sure what she was allowed to do, but she wanted more than anything to give Arizona a goodbye kiss.
"Goodnight, Calliope." Arizona put her hands on Callie's shoulders before she leaned in to kiss her goodbye.
"Text me when you get home?" Callie asked with her hands on Arizona's hips.
"Of course," Arizona promised. She kissed Callie one more time before leaning back. "Sleep well."
"You too," Callie said before watching Arizona walk away. If she didn't know better, she would have swore that Arizona added a little something extra to her walk.