A/N

As mentioned in the previous chapter, US divorce law really isn't my speciality so I'm going from what I can find on the internet. If there's a gap – I'll plug it with how it works in the UK! (Leaving aside the lack of no fault divorces that existed in the UK when I got divorced!)

As Callie had suggested, they got out Arizona's laptop and navigated their way around the website that allowed her to file for divorce remotely in Washington. She'd already checked, and found that she didn't meet the residency requirements to file in New York. She silently thanked the lord for the internet, and the fact that she could file without having to physically return to her home state. As she completed each page, she got Arizona to check the information, and make sure that she'd followed the instructions to the letter. She'd expected herself to feel something at this moment, but instead it just seemed like any other administrative task. Like filing a tax return, or updating your details with the DMV.

"Hey" the blonde nudged Callie as she was engrossed in the screen, nodding at the brunette's cell phone "you have a message from Christina"

Callie frowned "Are you gonna read it?"

"No…I mean, it's your phone"

"It's your friend replying to a message I sent about you" the brunette shrugged "you go ahead"

"Passcode?"

Callie blushed and stayed silent.

"Seriously…what could be embarrassing about a cell phone passcode?"

"It's 0630" the brunette mumbled.

"Ok…" Arizona entered the code, unlocking the phone "I don't get why you're being weird about it?"

"It totally doesn't matter" Callie replied breezily, focusing her attention back on the laptop.

"No way" the blonde used a hand to slowly turn Callie's cheek so that she could look at her "don't you start going shy on me Calliope"

"Honestly, it's no big deal"

"0630…is it a date?"

"Maybe"

"June 30th…" Arizona paused, wracking her brains for some kind of significant event that she should be aware of "ok, I've got nothing"

"That's because there's nothing to get"

"Does it have something to do with me?"

"…..no" the brunette answered unconvincingly.

"See…" Arizona let her hand stroke the brunette's knee "if it was June 29th, then I'd understand, but June 30th? You've got me stumped"

"June 29th means something to you?"

"Sure. It's the date of our first kiss" the blonde shrugged as though it was an obvious piece of information.

"Right" a wide smile spread across Callie's face "I can't believe you remember!"

"Doesn't help with why the 30th is so important though"

"That's…" the brunette cleared her throat "that's the date of the first time I realised who I was. That I…had feelings for you. I think of it as my day of self discovery, my day when I accepted that I was different. I always looked back on it fondly, even after everything happened, even after I married Eduardo. And so having it as the passcode on my phone was like this little secret reminder of who I really am"

12 years previously

Callie lay in bed, kicking the covers off herself in frustration. She'd barely slept all night, and there was a distinct throbbing behind her eyes that she knew was a direct result of the Havana Club that she'd consumed on the beach the night before.

Arizona had kissed her. Like really, actually kissed her.

Sure, she'd been kissed before. There was her brief fling with Alex the year before, and a couple of Aria's other friends at parties. She'd even made out with Mark once before promptly throwing up and getting the splashback on his shoes.

But this was totally different. Kissing those boys had felt like going through the motions. Like it was something that she was supposed to do, and on the whole, it hadn't been unpleasant. She could even honestly say that she'd enjoyed kissing Alex. The moment Arizona's lips had touched hers, her body had felt like it was on fire.

Looking back, there had always been something different about her relationship with the blonde. Their connection had been instant, the way that Arizona had stood up for her in the canteen at the start of school had immediately made her want to keep the younger Robbins on her side. They'd been inseparable ever since, finding their own unique place in the High School social hierarchy. Both rolling their eyes at jocks and cheerleaders, despite the fact that their much loved older siblings fitted those moulds, they'd always felt different yet totally at home with each other.

But she was also close to Teddy, and Alex until he left. She counted Mark and Addison as genuine friends. But Arizona…none of them came close to her. The blonde was the one person that she would literally do anything for. The only person that she always knew she could be 100% honest with all of the time.

Callie knew that she was a tactile person. She loved to hug people, and show them affection. But she had boundaries that she seemed to only cross when it came to Arizona. Holding hands, or curling up together on the sofa. She wouldn't do that with anyone else. She hugged the blonde a little closer, kissed her on the cheek a little more often.

She thought back to the time that she and Alex were, for want of a better word, dating. At the time, she had genuinely been attracted to him. And she had been attracted to other guys too. Even Mark, though she would never let him know, had briefly caught her attention. Though that interest had quickly expired when she'd expelled the contents of her stomach over his favourite pair of Nikes.

And that was what had confused her. She'd felt something for them, but she also got butterflies in her stomach when Arizona's dimples popped as she smiled directly at her. Got goosebumps on her skin when the blonde's hand lingered on her arm while they were talking. Felt her chest tighten at the thought of spending too long apart.

Her past with boys told her that she wasn't gay. For so long, she had refused to deal with her feelings for Arizona, or what they really meant. But last night, the way that her body had reacted to being kissed by her friend, she couldn't deny it any more. She was attracted to Arizona. And when she really thought about it, she was attracted to other girls too. None came close to how she felt about the blonde, but she had to admit that when she went to football games, she was just as interested in watching the cheerleaders as she was admiring the boys on the field.

For a moment, she let the rational part of her take over. Logically, that meant that she was bisexual. And it wasn't that she was uncomfortable with that label, more that it didn't seem like something that needed to be said out loud. She wasn't sure that she could come up with a moment where it would be appropriate to just add in "Yeah, so I like girls too".

But that was her reality. What she felt for Arizona was more, way more, than someone should normally feel for a friend. And now that she had felt the exhilaration of kissing her, she wasn't sure that she would be able to stop.

Present day

"That's…" Arizona smiled "that's kind of adorable"

"Adorable?" the brunette screwed up her nose.

"Yeah" the blonde squeezed Callie's knee "I mean, the thought of you realising that not everybody gets butterflies when they hug their best friend. I can picture that moment"

"I think it was more the fact that not everybody feels like they're about to self-combust when their best friend kisses them"

"Point taken"

"So how about you? When did you realise you were gay?"

"I was…" Arizona's forehead creased as she tried to recall "eleven, maybe?"

"Seriously?"

"Yeah" the blonde shrugged "I mean, I grew up with Cindy Crawford posters on my wall, and I definitely had an unhealthy interest in The X Files…it was only a matter of time before I realised"

"So you were never interested in boys?"

"Never"

"How come you never said anything back then?" Callie asked.

"It's hardly the way to make yourself fit in in a new town, is it? Nobody wants to be the girl that everybody else is uncomfortable around in the locker room. And then after that…I guess I was afraid of how you would react"

The brunette frowned "You thought I'd have a problem with you being gay"

"No not at all" Arizona laughed "more that I thought you'd be scared about what that meant for us. Because no matter what you might think now, I know you would have been more careful about how we interacted together if you'd known the whole time"

"I…" Callie went to protest, but then realised that what the blonde was saying was absolutely true. She would have thought twice about the physical contact with Arizona if she'd known that she was gay, certainly before she had any clue that she herself was that way inclined.

"It's ok" the blonde continued "you needed to figure out who you were in your own time. Everybody rebels against it at first"

"Did you?"

"Kind of. I spent a year begging my parents to treat me like I was a boy. My own form of denial"

"I can't believe I never knew any of this until now" the brunette said sadly.

"Hey" Arizona reached for the brunette's hand "we were teenagers, all figuring out who we were. You and I…we spent years dancing around how we really felt. But the truth is…even if we'd said something, I don't think it would have changed how we were together. Would it?"

Callie considered it for a moment "No, I guess not. I just…I guess things might have felt a bit different with that reassurance that I wasn't in it alone"

"I'm sorry" the blonde said softly "and I'm sorry if I ever gave you reason to think…well, other than the obvious part about me leaving…but any other reason to think that I wasn't totally right there with you"

"You…I guess you didn't" Callie admitted "how long…how long did you know that you had feelings for me before…I guess, before we kissed?"

"At least a year"

"A year?!" the brunette exclaimed.

"Yeah, I mean, I was attracted to you the first time I met you. Then I got to know you, and things just grew from there I guess"

Realisation dawned on Callie "So when I was…dating…Alex…"

"Insanely jealous"

"Oh"

"Yeah that was pretty hard to smile through" the blonde said honestly.

"You hid it really well"

"I wanted you to be happy. You know that's what I've always wanted"

"If I'd known, I would have…"

"No" Arizona interrupted "no, you wouldn't have done anything differently. Because back then, you weren't ready to acknowledge how you felt about me. And that's ok. Because you figured it out in your own time"

Callie groaned "Why did things have to be so complicated?"

"Most good things are"

"I guess. So…" the brunette changed the subject "what did Christina say?"

"Oh" Arizona looked back at the cell phone, having to re-enter the passcode with a smile "she says 'Damage limitation successful. Some nurses talking, but have been threatened with slow and painful death. Tell Robbins to come back with head held high'. So umm…I guess your idea might have been a good one"

"Sorry, what was that?" Callie grinned.

"You were right…about texting Yang"

"Thank you" the brunette gave Arizona a satisfied smile.

"So…talking of good ideas that you had…"

"Uh huh" Callie raised an eyebrow knowingly.

"Why don't you press the final submission button on that…" the blonde nodded at the divorce application on the laptop screen "and then get to work on the next part of your plan for the day?"

"Done" Callie clicked the button with a satisfied smile "now, remind me, what was the next part?"

"Calliope…"

"What?"

"I think you know perfectly well what"

"Nope…you might need to remind me…" the brunette teased.

"Oh yeah?"

Arizona got to her feet and slowly peeled off the remainder of her clothes, leaving herself standing before the brunette, completely naked. She could feel dark eyes staring at her, unabashedly roaming over her body.

"I…" Callie stammered "god, I could never get tired of looking at you"

"Good" the blonde grinned "because I think you made some promises about worshipping my body?"

"So I did" the brunette got to her feet "and believe me, I have every intention of keeping them"