It's You, It'll Always Be You

Chapter 2

[Flashback]

Arizona and Callie automatically hit it off at the party. Who would have thought that the perky blonde from a small town in North Carolina and the bad ass Latina from Miami could get along so well? After their introductions, Arizona felt much more at ease and dove right into conversation with Callie. Teddy and Addison shared a knowing look with one another as they glanced back and forth between their friends who were clearly engrossed in an animated conversation. They politely excused themselves from the two, not even knowing if they noticed.

Hours later, Arizona looked around to see that most of the party had cleared out. A little confused, she glanced down to look at her watch and figured out the reason why. "Wow, I didn't know time could fly by so fast."

Callie looked at her own watch to see that it was nearly two in the morning. "Whoa, you're right. You dorm here, yeah?" Arizona nodded. "Cool, let me walk you."

Arizona giggled, "That's not necessary, Calliope." Callie narrowed her eyes a little at Arizona's use of her full name. "What? I think it's a beautiful name for a beautiful girl."

Callie's cheeks flushed at Arizona's compliment. "Okay, fine. You can call me Calliope if you agree to let me walk back to your dorm. Deal?"

"You drive a tough bargain there, Calliope. But sure, I accept your deal, "Arizona answered, flashing Callie her best dimpled smile.

"Good. I wasn't in the mood to have to force you anyways," Callie replied with a wink.

"Oh, force me, huh? And how were you planning to do that?" Arizona challenged.

Callie paused for a second even placing a finger on her chin and tilting her head upward to make it seem like she was pondering a thought. Then she looked at Arizona with a mischievous smile that caused her to get a little nervous at what Callie had planned. "Oh, I don't know…" Callie said in a dangerously sweet voice. "Something…like this!" Callie exclaimed as she grabbed Arizona around the waist and hoisted her over her shoulder.

"Eek! Calliopeeeeeee! Put me down!" Arizona screamed with her arms and legs flailing about. Callie placed Arizona back down after a few more seconds with a smug look on her face. "You are mean, Calliope Torres. A real meanie head!"

"A meanie head? Really, Arizona? What are you, five?" Callie smirked.

"No, but my future patients will be!" Arizona laughed sporting another dimpled smile.

"Alright. Come on, silly. Let's get you home."

They left the party and walked side by side sharing a light conversation in the uncharacteristically cool summer night. A slight breeze blew causing Arizona to shiver and get goose bumps on her arms that didn't go unnoticed by Callie. "Aww, you're cold. Here, take my jacket," Callie said as she started taking off her jacket.

"No, it's okay, "Arizona tried to protest, placing a hand on Callie's shoulder.

"Arizona, don't be stubborn. I can see your goose bumps. So just take it, okay?" Arizona relented and allowed Callie to wrap her leather jacket around her shoulders before continuing on their walk. "Much better."

"Thank you, Calliope." Arizona replied, averting her gaze from Callie and looking down shyly at her shoes while embracing Callie's warmth through her jacket. She looked up to realize that they were just a few steps away from her dorm building. A sad look crossed across her face, not wanting this evening to come to an end. "Well, this is me. Thanks again for walking me." Callie stood before her with an amused smile on her face. "What?" Arizona asked in confusion.

"This is my dorm building too. What a lovely coincidence." Callie smiled even wider.

"No way, you're kidding me."

"I'm 100% serious, Arizona. I live on the fifth floor; room 502."

"Wow! This night just keeps getting better and better. I live on the third floor; room 307." Arizona smiled brightly.

"Well then, shall we?" Callie gestured, holding the door open for Arizona. They slowly ascended the stairs trying to inconspicuously elongate their time together. Unfortunately for them, the third floor approached them too quickly for their liking and they were standing outside of Arizona's door. "It was nice meeting you tonight, Arizona. Don't be a stranger, okay?"

"Hold that thought," Arizona said holding up a finger indicating she wanted Callie to stay there. "I'll be right back." She ran into her dorm leaving a confused Callie standing outside her door. Moments later she emerged in the hallway. "Sorry about that. But yeah, it was super meeting you tonight too, Calliope. And the same goes to you. You know where to find me." She leaned in and gave Callie a hug. Her body came alive feeling Callie pressed up against her. Before she backed out of Callie's arms, she leaned in closer and whispered into Callie's ear while handing her a slip of paper, "Don't be afraid to use this." She kissed Callie on the cheek and flashed her one final dimpled smile before backing into her dorm and shutting the door.

[Present Time]

Arizona was in shock at Callie's news, not quite sure if she heard her correctly. "C-Carlos is…" She couldn't bring herself to say it.

Callie nodded, "He has a brain tumor. At first we thought it was benign. That's what the doctors in Miami told us, but he kept getting worse and symptoms of something bigger kept popping up more and more and I couldn't let the doctors tell us it wasn't anything big. So I brought my dad to Seattle to see Derek and he…"

Arizona interrupted Callie at the mention of Derek's name. "Wait, Derek knew that you were coming here to Seattle and no one bothered telling me?"

Callie shook her head solemnly. "I'm sorry, Arizona. Derek was the only one who knew I was coming up and I asked him not to tell anyone. I didn't want anyone to know I was here."

"Including me?" Arizona's voice was filled with pain.

"Arizona… I didn't know if I could face you. I didn't know if I was strong enough to face what I left behind."

"Callie…"

"NO! Don't Callie me, Arizona. Both of us know that I'm your Calliope. So don't Callie me."

Arizona sighed, "I'm sorry, Calliope… I overreacted. I'm just a little hurt that both you and Derek didn't tell me about you coming up here. Who else knows? Does everyone know and I'm just the last to find out?"

"No, Arizona. Other than Derek, you're the only other person who knows I'm up here in Seattle, okay?"

"What about George?" Arizona said his name with such contempt.

"He's out somewhere on the East Coast on some business trip or something."

"He couldn't even be here to support you through this?"

"Please don't make this about him right now, Arizona. I told him to go on that trip. I told him to keep working and just let me handle this. I told him that he didn't have to stand here and comfort me. Because he couldn't measure up to what I need right now anyways."

"Calliope…"

Callie shook her head. "My dad has a pineoblastoma, Arizona. He freaking has cancer and it's killing him! So please, please, don't lecture me about George or Derek right now. Please…"

The desperation in Callie's voice just about killed Arizona. She felt terrible for being self-centered at the moment and picking a fight with Callie about not telling her she was coming up or bringing up George. She knew that that wasn't what Callie needed at all and she was only making her feel worse by unleashing her emotions unfairly onto her. "Hey, hey. Please don't start crying again, Calliope… Come here," she opened up her arms and Callie fell into her again. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, okay? I was wrong to get angry at you. I'm sorry, my Calliope…"

"Mmm…Your Calliope… I love the sound of that."

"You just have to make everything difficult, don't you?"

"I wouldn't be me if I didn't."

"That you wouldn't." And once again they returned to the more light-hearted mood they had earlier and just enjoyed being in each other's presence. They took this time to talk and catch up on the little things that had been happening in their lives. They talked about their jobs and Arizona caught Callie up on some of the recent drama from Seattle Grace-Mercy West Hospital. Callie mentioned briefly some things about her hospital over in San Francisco, but didn't say much considering Arizona didn't know any of her co-workers. They laughed over how similar San Fran and Seattle weather could be at times when Callie complained about the crazy on-and-off again rain. They talked for hours and didn't realize that it was nearly three in the afternoon and they talked straight through lunch. "Here we go again talking time away, Calliope. We missed lunch and since I just woke up when you got here, I'm actually really hungry."

"Aww, I'm sorry, Arizona. Here, let me go whip you something up," Callie got up from the couch to make her way into the kitchen.

"You really don't have to do that, Calliope. You're my guest. If anything, I should be making something for you."

"Don't be silly, Arizona. I came here and interrupted what looks like your day off. It's the least I can do." She rummaged through the cabinets and frowned when she saw that they were pretty much bare. "Of course you wouldn't have anything I could use to cook a real meal in here. Arizona, how do you survive without eating? I mean sure, it does wonders for keeping your body looking as good as it does, but you need to eat!"

Arizona blushed a little from both embarrassment and flattery. "I'm sorry! I usually don't have the time nor energy to actually cook anything resembling a meal. Besides, you already know the extent of my cooking skills."

Callie couldn't help but smile and let out a slight laugh at the pouting Arizona standing in front of her. "What am I going to do with you, Arizona? Go get dressed. I'll take you out to lunch then. We'll take a rain check on that home cooked meal." Callie could see Arizona about to protest and stopped her before she could start. "Are you really going to try to argue with me again, Arizona? Because you know I will win. You can't resist me after all."

If only she knew how true that statement really was, Arizona thought. "Fine, you win again, Calliope." She got up and retreated to her bedroom to change. Around fifteen minutes later, she was changed and ready to go. "So, where are you taking me?"

"Hmm, I was thinking about our Chinese place?" God, I missed how easy it was to call anything ours, she thought.

"Chinese sounds great."

They went to their favorite Chinese restaurant in Downtown Seattle and fell back into their normal routine with one another. It scared Arizona how right it felt to be with Callie and how it was like no one else existed except for the two of them. After their late lunch/early dinner, they decided to take a walk in the park and eventually ended up at their bench that sat atop a hill overlooking the city. Memories of the numerous times they had lunch at that spot to run away from the chaos at the hospital or all the late night conversations/cuddle sessions after a romantic date rushed to Arizona's mind and her heart warmed when she stole a glance over at Callie, smiling loving at her.

"What are you thinking?" Callie asked, breaking her away from her thoughts.

"Nothing and everything at the same time. I really missed just hanging out and being with you, Calliope. I never realized exactly how much I missed just spending a fun day with you. That's definitely been the most fun I've had in a while."

"Oh, come on. Surely your girlfriend takes you out for a fun night every once in a while. What was her name again?" Callie asked knowing full well what's Arizona's girlfriend's name was.

"Caitlin. Caitlin Thomas. I thought I've talked about her before?" CT, just like you my Calliope Torres.

"Oh yeah, that's right. I'm sorry. Must have slipped my mind or something with everything that has been going on." She has the same initials as me. I wonder if she noticed that. Or if it means something. Oh get over yourself, Callie. She's moved on. You're the one who made the mistake and left her. Don't think that she's still hung up over you, Callie berated herself. "Well, it's getting pretty late. I bet Caitlin must be getting worried about you." Callie cringed having to pretend to be all unaffected. She should be coming home to me…

"Oh yeah, right. Wouldn't want to worry her." Arizona answered tentatively. They walked back to Arizona's apartment with Callie's arm around Arizona's shoulders and Arizona's around Callie's waist. They laughed and brought up some funny memories from the past that caused them to laugh even more. Before they knew it, they were in front of Arizona's door. Arizona fished her keys out of her pocket and opened the door. They didn't pay attention to the brunette standing there with her phone held up to her ear with a worried look in her green eyes. "Arizona! Where the Hell have you been?"

Okay, so I'm sorry that I didn't talk a lot about Carlos' cancer, but I wanted to build Callie and Arizona's relationship a little first. Thank you to all of you who favorited, story alerted, and reviewed this story. It truly made my day to wake up to all of those notifications. You guys are the best!

On another note, what are your thoughts about the flashback to their times in med school leading up to Callie's marriage and then having a "real time" part? I'm sorry if it feels like it's a little slow at first. I promise to build on the marriage thing, Arizona's relationship with Caitlin and all that good stuff in time. =]