Arizona exhaled deeply as she closed the door to her motel room behind them.

"You get the vodka from the bag" she instructed Callie "I'm just going to go freshen up"

"Wait"

The blonde turned around, having started to head towards the bathroom.

"I need to do this first" Callie stepped towards her, cupping both cheeks in her hands and bringing their lips together.

The kiss was soft, with nothing like the desperation of the one that they had shared the previous day, but the intensity was the same, if not greater. Arizona wrapped her arms around the brunette as she felt her lips being caressed. Callie pulled back with a glint in her eye.

"Now you can go" she said, smiling softly.

The blonde stepped backwards, biting her lip as she maintained eye contact for a few extra seconds before retreating into the bathroom. She could hear Callie pouring their drinks as she splashed water on her face and looked at herself in the mirror. The bags under her eyes were more pronounced then she had ever seen them, which was saying something given her work as a surgeon. Her eyes were red from her various bouts of crying. More than anything, she suddenly noticed how old she was looking.

Realising she'd been starting at herself for too long, she patted down her face with a towel and stepped back into the room. She found Callie sat cross-legged on one side of the bed, mug of vodka in hand. Picking up the other mug from the table, she noted that the brunette had managed to find her new diet coke supply and mixed the drinks accordingly. Getting onto the bed, she mirrored Callie's position and settled down next to her.

The brunette held out her mug to clink with Arizona's.

"To Tim" she said.

"To Tim" the blonde agreed with a smile "I feel like he would definitely approve of our high class drinking establishment right now"

"Oh hell yeah" Callie chuckled "If he were here, I bet he'd be commenting on how lucky we are to have mugs to drink from or some other BS"

"Sounds like Tim"

They both took a long drink, and the blonde sighed audibly.

"So" Callie asked, angling her body to make eye contact "how are you holding up, honestly?"

Arizona considered the question for a moment "Up and down, you know? Like one minute I'm smiling and thinking of happy memories with Tim, the next minute I'm bursting into tears. It's like I forget that he's not just going to walk through the door, or log onto Skype, and then it hits me all over again"

"That's totally natural" the brunette reached out a hand and squeezed Arizona's knee "it's going to take time. And even when time passes, nobody will ever expect you to be ok with it. Some things will heal, some things will get easier, but it's ok to express the fact that you're hurting. I know you want to keep it all inside and make the world believe that nothing gets to you" the blonde nodded in acceptance "but sometimes it's ok to let people see you cry. It doesn't make you weak"

"I spent my entire childhood being raised not to show emotion. It's kinda hard just to let that go sometimes"

"I get that. And you know that I'm the total opposite. My family would wonder what was wrong if I didn't have a loud, passionate reaction to something – good or bad"

That earned a smile from Arizona "Maybe between us we make one human being with a normal set of emotional responses"

They looked into each other's eyes as they sipped their drinks again in unison, both of them aware that there was so much that remained unsaid.

"I know that we….need to talk. There's so much that I want to know, and I know you have questions for me. Whether I can give you the answers that you're looking for is a different matter entirely. But for tonight, can we just…be? Shut out the world for a while and just be Callie and Arizona, hanging out in a skanky motel room?" the blonde asked hopefully.

Callie smiled "We can do that"

"Thank you" Arizona smiled back gratefully.

"For tonight, I'm here for you. If you want to cry, then please, just let it all out. And then we're going to get under these skanky old covers, and I'm going to hold you til you fall asleep"

"You don't have to do that"

"I want to" the brunette insisted firmly "you did the same for me after my abuela's funeral, remember?"

11 years previously

It had been a long weekend for Callie as they'd buried her abuela, her father's mother. They'd flown out to Miami the day before the funeral, and her parents and Aria were staying on for a few extra days to see family and tidy up her abuela's affairs. Callie had persuaded her father to let her catch a flight back on the Sunday, insisting that she couldn't miss any further days of school. The reality was, she didn't really care about any extra missed days, but grieving with her family was smothering her. She needed her own space to deal with the loss.

Plus, as soon as she'd mentioned it, Arizona had offered to pick her up from the airport. And that had very quickly led to her agreeing to spend the night at Callie's parents house to keep her company. Time alone with her best friend was easily the best distraction that the brunette could think of.

It was late evening by the time that they pulled up outside the Torres house, with Arizona having stopped on the way to force Callie to eat something, much to the brunette's displeasure.

"So…" the blonde looked around "what did you want to do? We could still a mindless chick flick on? Or one of those crime documentaries that you love?"

Callie shook her head "I'd just like to go to bed if that's ok?"

"Of course, whatever you need"

As the brunette turned to head up the stairs, she realised that Arizona hadn't moved from the lounge. She turned back to speak to her "I meant I'd like us to go to bed"

"Oh" the blonde blushed "sorry, I thought you meant that you wanted to be alone"

"I do" Callie shrugged "but it doesn't count when it's you. If I hadn't wanted you with me, I wouldn't have asked you to stay"

Unable to fault that logic, Arizona willingly followed her upstairs to her bedroom. They got changed in silence, with Callie pulling on a vest and shorts, and without being asked, passing an oversized t-shirt of hers to the blonde. It had become a thing between them, that whenever they had a sleepover, Arizona would wear the Wonder Woman shirt. Neither of them could even remember why it started, but for some reason the blonde had become attached, and no other sleeping attire would do.

They got under the covers, leaving just a lamp on.

"Would you like me to hold you?" Arizona asked softly.

"Please"

"Come here"

The blonde lay on her back, and encouraged Callie to curl up against her side with her head on her shoulder and one leg flung over Arizona's body. It meant that the blonde could wrap one arm around Callie's back, whilst also lightly tracing circles on the back of the brunette's hand that had naturally come to rest on her stomach.

"This…is exactly what I needed" Callie sighed contentedly, placing a light kiss on the blonde's shoulder.

Arizona smiled "Well anytime you need me to be your pillow, you just let me know"

"You're so much more than a pillow. Way more interactive"

As if to make a point, Callie turned over the hand that was rested on the blonde's stomach so that their fingers began to absentmindedly tangle with each other.

"Things are so much easier when it's just you and me" the brunette continued "sometimes I wish the rest of the world would just go away for a while"

Arizona kissed the top of her head "Well right now there's nothing else in the world but me and you"

The brunette lifted her head, propping herself up on an elbow so that she could look purposefully into Arizona's eyes. Slowly she began to lower her head towards the blonde's, only closing her eyes at the last moment before their lips made contact. The first kiss may have been tentative, but a second later, Callie brought their lips together again, this time flicking her tongue to demand entrance to the blonde's mouth.

Arizona whimpered, and granted the request, letting the brunette kiss her so deeply that it took her breath away. With one hand still pressed firmly on Callie's back, she lifted the other to tangle in her hair, holding her in position above her. As she pressed herself down against the blonde, Callie adjusted her body so that she was lying half on top of Arizona. With one hand now free, she reached down to slide it inside the oversized t-shirt, letting her fingertips brush over the sensitive skin on the blonde's hip.

It was skin that she had touched before. A little under the shirt action wasn't a new concept to the two of them, but it never failed to amaze her how soft it was. As she slowly dragged her fingertips up to the blonde's ribs, she could feel the goosebumps appearing as a result of her touch. Her hand came to rest at the curve of Arizona's breast, and she lifted her head from the kiss, causing the blonde to open her eyes.

"Is this ok?" Callie asked huskily.

Arizona could only nod, pulling the brunette back down to kiss her again as she felt a thumb rubbing over her nipple. She moaned, deepening the kiss as Callie's fingers continued their exploration.

The noises that the blonde was making were driving Callie crazy. She began unconsciously grinding her hips downwards, allowing Arizona's thigh to apply pressure where she needed it most. The hand that was on her back gripped her tighter, pressing their bodies together.

She lifted her head again, and the blonde blinked several times, her eyes glazed over.

Callie bit her lip, looking down in wonder at the effect she was having on the blonde before speaking "Can I…can I touch you?"

Arizona nodded, and the brunette shook her head.

"I need to hear you say it"

"Yes"

The reply was so breathy, so full of want, that Callie crashed their lips together again, letting her fingers retrace their steps back down the blonde's torso until she reached the waistband of her underwear. She ran a single fingertip along the invisible line between the blonde's hipbones, causing a growl to rumble in her throat.

Inhaling deeply, she then let her fingers slide beneath the material for the first time. The feeling was like nothing she'd ever experienced. She'd touched herself before, but this was different. Arizona was so wet that her fingers glided over her with ease. They moaned into the kiss simultaneously the first time her fingertips brushed over the blonde's clit.

At first, she took the time to explore, getting herself used to the feeling of having another woman beneath her fingers. She was hyper-alert, noting every little reaction that the blonde had, and making sure to repeat any action that had resulted in a louder groan. Taking her cues from Arizona's reactions, she focused in on her clit, circling it at an increasing pace as felt the blonde's hips bucking beneath her. That movement was creating increased pressure between her own legs, and she found herself moving in time with the blonde, wanting to feel the same level of pleasure that she could hear she was bringing Arizona.

Making Arizona come for the first time was a million times better than she ever even been able to imagine. The way she gasped and shook, her head flung back against the pillow. The staccato cries that punctured the otherwise silent air.

When the blonde finally opened her eyes and looked at her, it was like she was seeing her for the first time. And in that moment, Callie knew that she would never love anyone quite the way she loved Arizona Robbins.

"Callie…" the blonde breathed "I mean…wow"

"I did that" Callie marvelled, with the proudest grin on her face.

"You did" Arizona smiled, pulling the brunette down to kiss her deeply.

The moment the blonde's mouth was on hers again, Callie's senses went straight back into overdrive. She flung one leg over Arizona's body so that she was now straddling her completely, pressing herself down against the blonde's pelvis.

"Let me touch you" Arizona breathed into the kiss.

The brunette shook her head "I want to come like this"

She took hold of both of the blonde's hands, pinning them to the bed either side of her head as she ground her hips downwards, feeling the pressure between her legs building with every thrust. Nobody had ever told her how good this could feel. I mean, it wasn't exactly something that they covered in books. She could the heat in her rising, and lifted her head, unable to keep kissing the blonde for fear of being unable to breathe. She tried to open her eyes, wanting to see Arizona's face in this moment, but they seemed determined to remain closed of their own accord. But she could sense the blonde's gaze on her, watching every contortion on her face as she crashed over the edge and cried out.

As she gradually regained her senses, she opened her eyes and looked down at the blonde. There was no other word to describe what she saw reflected back at her.

Love.

Present day

Both women blushed at the memory.

"I'm not sure that the exact same type of holding one another would be entirely appropriate" Arizona pointed out.

"Probably not" the brunette agreed "but I liked the look on your face when you were remembering it"

The blonde swatted her arm "Behave"

"I'm sorry. Will you forgive me if you get to be little spoon?"

"I think that might just be ok"

The mugs of vodka were cast aside as the two women got ready for bed. Callie stripped down to the vest top that she had been wearing under her suit. When she turned back around, she found the blonde refusing to make eye contact with her, and one glance at what she was wearing immediately told her why.

"You….I gave Aria shit for weeks thinking she'd stolen that damn shirt!" she exclaimed.

Arizona looked down, a guilty expression plastered on her face as she eyed the Wonder Woman shirt that she was wearing "I think you left it at my house the last time…well, anyway, I couldn't leave it behind, so I….borrowed it?"

Callie laughed and rolled her eyes "I think by law it probably belongs to you now"

The blonde beamed, and no more was said on the subject as they climbed into bed. Just as she'd promised, Callie scooted in behind her, wrapping her arms around the blonde and pulling her close.

"I've got you" she whispered, kissing Arizona on the shoulder.

The blonde didn't reply, instead just covering Callie's arm with her own, silently squeezing her hand, and in doing so, saying what her words couldn't in that moment.

There was no doubt about it. She was still hopelessly in love with Callie.