Somewhere along Interstate 90, Callie realized that she was pretty close to Seattle. Her nerves were already shot from navigating the icy roads and the goddamn construction that came with them. No only was she running on three hours of sleep but she'd forgotten just how busy the interstate was this early in the morning. The sun was just about to peek out over the horizon and already cars were passing her by with their middle fingers on display. A solid decade ago, Callie would have been flying along the road with them. But, after so many years in the ER and a significant crash herself, her tendency to speed had pretty much been reserved for Mario Kart.

So far she hadn't had any car problems, which was a blessing. Changing a tire on the side of the interstate while Arizona was sick miles away and basically calling for her was quite possibly the worst outcome imaginable. Nevermind the fact that trying to get any help on this road while it was snowy was damned near impossible. At least she didn't have a set time to be there. Technically no one knew she was coming.

She hated to admit it but the fact that Sofia was gone for the weekend made her a little less nervous. Callie wanted a few hours alone with Arizona to clear the air without a child there. She knew the moment that she saw Sofia she would lose it, and she preferred that to be after she lost it on Arizona. No matter what she'd end up a blubbering mess but one breakdown at a time.

So, in short, she was going to be a teary-eyed, snotty, raspy wreck for the foreseeable future. That future seemed better than the sad lump of human she'd become in Iowa. Hopefully she'd never have to go back to the small cabin ever again. She didn't even care that she would have to find another apartment with a month-to-month lease. Well, Seattle was full of yuppies so perhaps she could sublet somewhere.

Her heart told her to jump into bed with Arizona and never leave. However, rushing any of their healing process would do nothing but hinder them. Patience, albeit not her strong suit, was the answer in this situation.

Her dashboard rang again and she answered her phone quickly.

"Hello?"

"Hey."

"Alex!"

"The one and only. I heard you were comin' back!" Alex's voice made Callie smile, soon enough she could talk to him face-to-face.

"Yeah. In the next few weeks. Arizona and I-"

"Glad I got to hear it from Bokhee!" Alex sassed at her.

Callie grimaced at herself in her rearview mirror. Oops.

"It's okay. I'm just givin' ya shit. It's nice. I'm glad that I won't be the only outcast to come wandering back to the Hospital. Although, I think you've done it more than the rest of us."

"Oh shut up you goof. If you're nice I'll bring you donuts on my way back into town." Callie peeked behind her before changing lanes.

"I'm going to hold you to that. Do you know, is Dr. Giggles okay? I heard she called off today, which hasn't happened since.."

"She's fine," Callie supplied before they delved into too many details. "A kid sneezed on her yesterday."

"Oh God. Yeah. She's gonna be out for a while. Shit's crazy right now."

"I heard about the measles. Sounds fun. Glad I won't be at the hospital for it."

"Yeah it's no fun. Anyways, I just wanted to give you shit about forgetting your dear old best friend."

"I'm sorry, okay?" Callie laughed as she recognized her exit. "I'll make sure you include you in my next life crisis!"

"You'd better!" Alex laughed back.

When she ended the call, a flood of relief crashed over her. She didn't realize just how anxious she had been about meeting up with her old friends and coworkers. At least she had a small squad to come back to, even if half of that squad was technically her ex-spouse and child. Oh well.

According to her GPS she had about two hours until she was in Seattle and just a little bit past that until she got to her hotel.

She decided that she would drop into a grocery store and look for things to make for dinner. That is, if Arizona didn't decide to order pizza. Perhaps she should think this over. She weighed the pros and cons of it for the remaining few hours of her trip. Once she made in into the city, she pulled into the first safeway she found. Even if Arizona had decided to eat something else later in the day, Callie would be willing to bet that there were be minimal supplies for a cold. It was something about enduring pain to survive or whatever the Colonel had instilled in the Robbins children.

As she walked into the store, the smell of fresh bread made her sigh in delight. She shook out her legs a little bit and headed to the sample section. She was hungry and shopping while hungry was the worst. After grabbing a few skewers with various meats on them, Callie pulled her phone out and called Arizona. She hoped that the blonde had taken her advice and slept in but it was unlikely.

"Hmmnh?" a muffled voice answered the phone. "Callie?"

"Hey. Sorry that I woke you up. I just had a question about my arrival."

"Hnnh two weeks?"

Callie had to cover her mouth as she doubled over with laughter. Sleepy Arizona was too precious.

"Yes, yes. I start back the Hospital in two weeks. What should I make on my first night back?" Callie tried not to lie to Arizona, but it was getting more difficult.

Arizona was humming while she was thinking so Callie took off towards the medical supplies. She grabbed some tissues, a heating pad, and a bag of tea. After a minute of Arizona trying to decide, Callie realized that she had promptly fallen back asleep on the phone.

So, she made an executive decision to grab the stuff for chicken soup. Then, at least if Arizona decided to get something else, it could be frozen and reheated for a different day.

Callie checked out and set her bags in the car. She sat down and noticed that her hands were shaking quite a bit. Calling upon years of stressful situations, she took deep breaths and tried her best to think of all the great things that were about to happen.

After fixing her hair quite a few times and changing her GPS to the hotel, Callie set out on the final leg of her journey. This was it, the last chance to get her mind straight before plunging into one of the biggest decisions she could make. Doubts flitted through her mind and for a moment she nearly caved in. To combat them she conjured up the last few phone calls and texts that she and Arizona had shared. Lots of non-committal future planning and make-believe. It was all so...new. They'd never really gotten to be in that stage. One night they were kissing in the bathroom and the next Callie was grabbing Sof from Arizona in an emotional fury after their divorce.

She checked in with relative ease, and dropped her bags off in the hotel. It was strange to think that only a few years ago she was here after being kicked out the hospital basement. Granted she no longer wanted to get by on her parent's money, but after staying in the Archfield it would be tough to go back to a simple room.

Groceries and emotional baggage in tow, Callie set out to the final stretch of her journey. As she drove, the familiar buildings and houses felt like a welcoming committee of sorts. She had never really lived in this house. They had tried so many things to fix their marriage, including that month without speaking, which hadn't done much other than lead to some frantic makeup sex. Which was great at the time. But, in the long run hurt them more than helped.

After a couple of minutes she pulled up and parked on the street in front of the house. It was still cute - something to take pride in. The emotional attachment had never formed to that place like it had her apartment. But, she still got a sense of "coming home" nonetheless. It was a good place to raise a child, and she truly planned on doing just that.

Once she walked to the front door she paused. Did she knock? Did she just walk into the house? She technically still had a key. Did her number still work in the security system? Did she call? Part of her just wanted to waltz right in and start cooking. But, the other part of her didn't want to overstep. Although..Arizona did love to have uninterrupted sleep. And, to wake her up was a cardinal sin that even the most dire situations did not call for.

So, she took a leap of faith and after transferring the grocery bags onto one wrist, punched her numbers into the alarm.

Her heart pounded in her ears as she waited for the loud squeal to boom throughout the house. The bags clinked together as her hands began to shake. A green check mark appeared and all of the air in Callie's lungs depleted quickly. She fished for her key and let herself into the home. It looked pretty much the same, minus a few of the nicknacks that she'd taken when she'd left. She turned to the right and set her bags down on the counter. Then, her shoes came off followed by her coat. The sight alone of her coat hanging next to Arizona's helped calm her immensely.

She wanted to lament that it was like old times - but it wasn't. There was no slamming of cupboards or shaking of pill bottles. No one was crying, something very rare in the household. It was peaceful, soothing. She crept down the hallway and peeked into the main bedroom, there was an Arizona shaped lump and an Arizona shaped leg set against the mattress.

With cautious steps, Callie tiptoed back to the kitchen. She unboxed her groceries and gently tossed the containers in the recycle bin. It took a little bit of sleuthing but soon she found the big pan they'd used to peel potatoes and the frying pan. She cooked the chicken and got the stock ready. For the next couple of minutes her attention was focused on not burning anything or setting off a smoke alarm in a home that technically was not hers.

Finally all the veggies were mixed with the stock along with the seasoned chicken. The home began to take on the scent of the now simmering soup. It was early afternoon, so Callie assumed it would be ready by early dinnertime. She set an alarm on her phone to remind her to put the bread in the oven. But, other than that...she really had nothing else to do. Would it be rude to plop down and watch television? She could play candy crush, but if she did she'd never get the image of floating candies out of her head.

Showering was an option. She hadn't really bathed in a disturbing amount of time. Not that she didn't want to, but there was no way to during the long drive. Frozen hair was not something she wanted to have while leaving the hotel either. Plus, she hadn't really planned on jetting over so quickly.

She stayed there for a few minutes, weighing the pros and cons once again. Her clothes were clean, so she could just change back into them. Her hair would have to make due without her products. Tapping her hand against her phone, she tapped out a message to Arizona:

Hey I have a surprise for you! It might take a little bit to get to you, so stay patient. If you wake up before I'm able to deliver it to you...just hang tight. You'll know when it's there.

She double checked the burner and turned towards the bathroom. Hopefully using the guest shower wouldn't wake Arizona up. Also, Callie desperately hoped that she wasn't misreading the situation and digging herself into a deep hole after finally reconnecting with her ex-wife.

The shower was uneventful. She was too nervous to do anything than scrub and jump out in less than 10 minutes. The steamy room made her anxious, it was hard to see around the rom and the last thing she wanted to do was knock something over. After a quick towel dry, Callie redressed and tried to dry her hair the best that she could. Her feet were too damp for socks, so she stuffed them into her purse and padded into the kitchen. As great as this idea was, she really didn't plan for the down time while the soup was cooking. She made lazy circles in the pan, trying to pass the time.

But, Arizona had been sleeping for quite a while. Perhaps she could chance waking the blonde. No. She wanted to impress her with her newfound patience. One thing that had really been a trigger for Arizona was being rushed into things. Patience was not Callie's strong suit, so to practice it now was a good idea.

Eventually quiet tinkle rose from the bedroom followed by the sounds of sheets rustling. Callie froze while stirring the soup as the most adorable version of Arizona Robbins appeared from the bedroom. Clad in a very large crew neck sweater and basic grey sweatpants, Arizona stood in the kitchen with the most confused look on her face. Her poor hair was thrown into what probably used to be a bun, and there were creases on her face from whatever she'd fallen asleep on.

"Uh..what are? What is? What date? Why are you here?" She finally spat out while rubbing her eyes.

Callie giggled at just how hard Arizona had struggled with the question. The blonde looked at her phone and looked back up to Callie.

"Did you get my message?" Callie asked.

Arizona looked confused and opened her phone. After a couple of swipes and some jabbing at the screen, she read the message and looked back up at Callie. For a second, she assumed Arizona was about to sneeze, but as soon as Callie moved to bless her, a sob came from the blonde in front of her.

Before Callie could react, a Arizona made her way over to her and wrapped her in her arms. The feeling alone sent Callie to cloud nine. Perhaps, this is what heaven felt like. She returned the gesture, and nuzzled her cheek against the blonde hair under her chin. For a moment, she expected it to be familiar or at least similar to their past embraces.

However, it wasn't. There was no history, no circumstances behind the embrace. No one had died, no one had been shot. There was no trauma. It was simply two people enjoying each other's presence - even if their relationship was up in the air. Small sniffles came from the small blonde and for a moment, Callie though she'd cry as well. Instead of a heavy chest and closed throat, what she found was a smile that wouldn't fade and a slight tremble of her lip.

They stayed like that, locked within each other, for a few moments. Eventually, Callie started to rock them back and forth. That, in turned into a sort of sway. It wasn't quite a dance, but it was something romantic just for them.

"I missed you so much. I- I'm so lonely," Arizona whispered into her hair. "And you brought me bread. Is that the surprise?"

Callie squeezed her tight in return and let go of her. They separated and just looked at each other until Callie couldn't handle it. The giggles bubbled up her esophagus and made their way to the surface.

"I'm sorry," She staggered in between laughs. "You just look so adorable and so sick. I'm sorry if I woke you. No, it wasn't the bread, it's me. I'm the surprise. But, bread is pretty great."

"No, you didn't. I set an alarm so I wouldn't sleep all day." Arizona sighed. "Plus I actually wanted to call you and ask where you were staying when you came back."

"My stuff's at the Archfield for now. I don't want to rush into anything." Callie offered.

"You don't want to rush anything?" Arizona spoke the words slowly. "Huh, I seem to recall someone being a hurry for literally everything."

Callie shrugged in return and blushed when Arizona winked at her. She smiled and looked to the ground so the blonde wouldn't see her huge smile.

"Calliope. I didn't want to rush anything either. Our boundaries are strange. We know so much about each other, but we're also kind of strangers. There's no procedure for things like this." Arizona motioned around hectically. "Stop hiding your smile, I kind of love it."

"Hey," Callie grabbed for the blonde's hands and brought them to their sides. Slowly she leaned down and placed a single kiss on lips she'd dreamt about for years. "We don't need a manual or user's guide. It's okay for us to fuck up. We aren't perfect; I think the years apart could actually benefit us. Perhaps this was how it was meant to be all along."

Arizona nodded and for a moment they just held each other's gazes. She broke away and looked curiously at the soup on the stove.

"You brought soup?

Callie burst into tears while laughing, " I snuck in to make you soup because you're sick!"

"Oh, I didn't mean to make you cry! Do you want me to go back in the bedroom and come back out?" Arizona moved away to go back to the room. "We can redo the surprise!"

"No!" Callie cried out, still laughing. "I think my nerves just finally settled. I wasn't sure if you'd hate me for sneaking in."

"Oh Calliope, you're so silly! If I didn't want you to be here early, why would I add your code to the alarm?" Arizona smiled devilishly at her.

"You did?"

"Yes, and I hoped that telling you the Sof was with Zola all weekend would convince you to come sooner."

Callie stood there, thoroughly surprised. She'd been bested at her own game.

She gulped, "All weekend?"

Arizona winked and grabbed for her, which made Callie's heart skip a beat.

"Come on, Torres. The soup's hot, the night's young, and you have a fancy hotel room to introduce me to."