"I'm asking you to come back to New York with me"

"I…what?" Callie sat bolt upright.

"I'm sorry, I said it might sound crazy. You can forget I said anything"

"No, I…I mean yes, it does sound totally crazy. We've been back in each other's lives for like five minutes. And honestly, until right now I'd been blocking out the fact that you were actually gonna leave again at some point" the brunette began to ramble "And so now I feel like I'm already missing you, which is crazy in itself because you're literally sat right in front of me, but then I've never even been to New York, I don't know anyone there, and I'll probably hate it, and what if this all goes wrong and I'm just stranded in a massive city with nothing and no-one, and…"

Arizona cut off her rant by kissing her firmly, then pulling back to look into her eyes "Breathe Calliope"

"I am…I am breathing"

"Good, because you kinda forgot about your old friend punctuation there" the blonde smiled.

"I'm sorry, this is just all a bit overwhelming right now, and so then I get all flustered and just keep…"

"I know" Arizona squeezed her hands "and it's completely adorable so please don't ever change"

"I haven't managed to shake the habit in twenty eight years, I doubt it's gonna happen anytime soon"

"Listen" the blonde tucked a strand of Callie's hair behind her ear "you don't have to make a decision now, ok? I'm just telling you that there's an option on the table"

"When are you leaving?" the brunette asked quietly.

"I haven't got a return flight booked yet. I'm on a leave of absence from work, and so I figured I would just stay here until I wasn't needed anymore"

"Needed by who?"

"At first, my parents. So honestly I thought I'd be here for a day or two at best. Now…you"

"You're staying here til I don't need you anymore?" Callie asked incredulously "In that case you'd better not be counting on heading back to New York anytime soon"

"Calliope I…I promise, I will stay until you've figured out what you're going to do, ok? But you know I can't stay here forever. This town…it can never be my home again"

The brunette nodded, her gaze dropping "I understand"

"Whatever you choose to do, you know I'll support you"

"But what does it mean for us, for this" Callie indicated their naked bodies "if you go back to New York and I stay here?"

"Whatever happens, I want to give us a shot. And I mean that, even if it means clocking up a lot of air miles. But Calliope, you can't make any decisions based on me, ok? You have to do what's right for you"

"So why did you ask me to come to New York then?"

"Because I understand what it's like to need to get away, and how utterly terrifying it is to be thinking about going somewhere where you have nothing. So I wanted you to have an option where at least one thing, one person, would be familiar"

"So you don't actually want me to come, you're just doing me a favour?" Callie turned her head away.

"Calliope look at me" Arizona said sternly, causing the brunette to begrudgingly make eye contact "of course I want you to come. I've spent the last ten years there, building a life and always wondering what it would be like to have you be part of it. But right now, this is about you and what you need"

"You have?" the brunette smiled shyly.

"Yeah" Arizona returned the smile.

"Ok…I guess you'd better book us a couple of plane tickets then"

A grin spread across the blonde's face "Are you serious?"

"Yes. Take my card, take whatever you need, just get us to New York"

"Ok but like two minutes ago you thought you would hate it there"

"You've never complained about my impulsive decision making before" Callie smirked.

11 years previously

The two friends walked out of afternoon registration, heading down the corridor together to their next class of the day. The relatively small size of their High School meant that they had a lot of their classes together, and biology with Dr Webber was one of those.

"Come on" Callie pulled the blonde by the elbow, directing her away from their fellow students "follow me"

"Erm Cal, you do know Dr Webber's lab is the other way, right?"

"We're not going to biology today" the brunette replied decisively.

"We're not?"

"Nope" Callie grinned.

"And when did you decide that?"

The brunette shrugged "About thirty seconds ago"

"There's not point me arguing with you about this, is there?"

"Nope"

"I guess I'm following you then"

Giggling, the two girls made their way to the building's external doors, trying to appear as inconspicuous as possible. Arizona found herself following the brunette out to the sports field with a confused look on her face.

"Look Calliope, I know you hate biology, but…surely you hate sports even more?"

"Yeah, Callie Torres would totally cut class to get in some extra PE" the brunette rolled her eyes "come on, we're going to the other side of the field"

The blonde squinted at the line of trees in the direction that Callie was heading. She was about to question further, when she realised the brunette was already marching on ahead and instead she jogged to catch up with her. Linking her arm through Callie's, she decided that she would just trust her friend and try not to think about all the extra studying she was going to have to do to make up for the class they were skipping.

"Here we are" the brunette smiled proudly.

"Sooo…we just came all the way over here to stand in front of the same trees we could have seen out of the window?"

"Yeah totally" Callie replied sarcastically "or, you could come behind these trees with me"

The blonde grinned "that sounds more like it"

She allowed herself to be led to a small gap in the foliage and they squeezed their way through until they reached a small clearing in the trees. Sunlight streamed through small gaps in the branches, leaving a random pattern of light and shadow.

"Ok" Arizona looked around "I'll admit, this is actually pretty cool. It's like we're some place a million miles away from this dumb town"

"Yes!" the brunette agreed, her eyes sparkling "That's exactly why I love it here"

"How did you know about this place?"

Callie shrugged "I found it when I was trying to avoid doing the whole cross country race thing Mr Burke forced us to do last term"

"So what, you hid out here the whole time?"

"I started with everyone else, then just waited here until they came back round for the final lap and joined back in"

"That's kind of genius"

"I know, right?"

Arizona put her hands on her hips in mock anger "So how come it took you so long to tell me about it?"

"I guess I was just waiting for the right time to bring you out here" the brunette blushed.

"And today was the right time?" the blonde stepped closer to her.

"Yeah, I just…" Callie bit her lip "something about the way you look at me during registration. I just had to show you it now. I know, you don't have to tell me, I'm crazy"

The blonde laughed "I love your crazy impulsive ass"

"You do?"

"Yeah, I do"

Arizona took a final step forward to close the gap between them, reaching out to take hold of the brunette's collar. She lightly pressed her lips against Callie's, hearing the sharp intake of breath that resulted from the kiss. Her mouth began to move tentatively, her heart racing as she let her tongue gently brush against the brunette's.

As their tongues made contact, she felt Callie's hands taking hold of her hips. Both girls were breathing heavily through their noses, hands shaking as their lips moved in time with one another.

Nervously, the brunette let one of her hands untuck Arizona's shirt, slowly dragging her fingertips up over the bare skin of her stomach. Reaching the bottom of her bra, she paused, waiting for a reaction.

The blonde broke the kiss briefly to nod, biting her lip. Callie's hand slid up further, cupping her over her bra, and she immediately tugged on the brunette's collar to ensure that their lips pressed together again.

"How" Arizona breathed, repeatedly placing the lightest of kisses on the brunette's lips "was I looking at you?"

"Like you wanted me to do something like this" Callie rasped, before kissing her firmly again.

"Ok" the blonde smiled "maybe you're not so crazy after all"

Present day

"Ok" Arizona smiled at the memory "I guess I always have loved your crazy impulsive ass"

"Right?" the brunette grinned.

"So" the blonde reached for her phone, opening up the airline's webpage "when do you want to leave?"

"Now"

"I'm being serious"

"So am I"

Arizona looked at her witheringly "You have like, zero belongings. Surely you at least want to go pack a bag"

"Ok fine" the brunette folded her arms "I was kinda hoping to just buy a bunch of new stuff for my new life"

"And you still can" the blonde squeezed her hand "but trust me, you're gonna want to arrive in a new city with slightly more than just the shirt on your back"

"Don't forget about the hot woman on my arm"

"Flattery will get you nowhere, Calliope"

"Yeah I'm not sure that's true" Callie winked.

The blonde rolled her eyes "Ok, the next available flight is tomorrow evening anyway. That'll give you time to grab some stuff, and maybe say goodbye to some people? There's literally no way Mark would ever forgive me if I disappeared again, especially not if you went too"

"Ok I guess you're right. Here" Callie pulled her card from her purse "pay with this"

"You sure?"

"Absolutely"

The blonde bit her lip in concentration, which Callie incidentally found incredibly endearing, and entered the payment details. After a minute she frowned.

"What's up?" the brunette asked.

"It's saying it's been declined"

"Try again"

"Ok…" the blonde entered the card details again "no, same thing. Could Eduardo have blocked your card?"

"Yes" Callie grunted "part of me is surprised it took him this long. Fuck Ari, what am I going to do? I literally have $500 in my purse"

"Firstly, I'm gonna pay for these plane tickets. Secondly, in the morning, we're gonna go to the bank and see if you can still access the account. And thirdly, if all else fails, you're about to travel to New York with someone who owns an apartment, and makes silly money doing a job that has so far taken up so much of her time that she hasn't actually been able to spend it"

"I can't let you bankroll me" the brunette protested.

"Yes, you can" Arizona insisted "just while you get yourself back on your feet"

"It's kinda hard to take bossy you seriously when you're naked"

"I mean it Calliope, I don't want you worrying about money, ok?"

"Ok ok, fine" Callie raised her hands in defeat "I'll let you help me out"

"Good" the blonde smiled triumphantly "and there we go, flights are booked"

"Holy fuck, I'm really gonna do this"

"Yep" Arizona grinned "time to let Callie Torres loose on the big wide world"

"I'm not sure anyone is quite ready for that"

"I am"

"Well in that case" Callie leant in and kissed her softly "I guess the rest of the world doesn't really get much of a choice"