CHAPTER TWO

She honestly had no idea how she was functioning right now. It should be inhumanly possible for her to get out of bed in the morning, but she did. She pushed the covers to the much too-cold side of the bed where a warm body once used to lie, got up, and padded, on her bare feet, across the floor and into her daughter's room. She fed and clothed her child, so got her to day-care, and she went to work and kicked ass in many a surgery, before picking up her child and going home to spend the evening with her.

She had no idea how she had gotten to where she was. Well, actually, she did have a fucking idea, but she hated where she was anyway. In the last few years she'd managed to go from being the happiest woman alive; married to the love of her life and raising an adorable daughter with her and her best friend right across the hall, to being alone with a hysterical child in her too big apartment, with her best friend dead and her wife living in a hotel room.

Sofia really wasn't handling it that well; she was already dealing with missing Mark – her daddy – and now Arizona was eerily absent too. Callie knew that Arizona snuck into day-care to see Sofia on a daily basis, but she only had so much time at work, and what Sofia was really missing – was having her mother at home; to have them tug her in like they used to, together. Playing silly games and making funny faces.

Callie missed Arizona so terribly too. It was pure agony not to have the other woman beside her in bed; to not feel the comforting warmth of her next to her when they slept. She hated that she didn't share their lunch together anymore; that they couldn't sneak little glances at each other when they ran into each other at work. Things hadn't been perfect for a long time, but the last few months it had actually felt like things were getting there. Arizona had finally been comfortable enough to open up to her, to make love to her. They'd been happy; shared laughter and had small moments. Things were good again – and Callie had thought, for just a few glorious weeks – that she had her wife back. That the old Arizona was actually in there somewhere, and that she hadn't lost her for good.

Until it all came crashing down in piles around her. Everything she knew and loved was no longer certain, and she had no idea where she was going to be a year from now – not even a month from now. She could only handle taking it day by day; getting herself out of bed and taking care of Sofia. Everything else was just too damn hard at the moment.

She did not like to victimize herself. She did not like to make anyone feel pity towards her. That was partly why she hadn't told anyone what had happened, even if she so badly wanted to. God, she missed Mark. He had always been her go-to-guy with these things; he'd been the one to help her through every failed relationship she'd had within the walls of that damn hospital; George, Erica, Arizona, and now… Arizona was gone again, and Mark wasn't there to talk to her. How was she ever going to make sense of the mess inside of her head?

Walking straight into the attending's lounge and slamming the door close behind her, Callie couldn't hide the sigh of relief that escaped her lips when she saw that the only other occupant was Cristina Yang. She was currently holding a cup of steaming coffee between her hands as she stared straight into space.

Callie sat down next to her and motioned her stance, staring straight ahead, wondering how she was going to open the conversation she so desperately wanted to have. Cristina was her old roommate, Cristina knew her. They were alike in many ways, and maybe Cristina was exactly what she needed. She sighed.

"Owen wants kids." Cristina said then, still staring forward, but tilting her head and squinting her eyes, "Owen wants kids and I can't give him that."

"Arizona cheated on me." Callie whispered, and it took a second, but then she turned her head, only to find Cristina doing the exact same thing. The other woman looked at her with questionable eyes. "Yeah." She added.

Cristina swallowed, "He was going to take care of that kid. If the father had died, he was going to take care of the kid." She shrugged, obviously deeply upset with him, "He told me he could live without kids if he had me, and then he wants to take care of an orphaned boy. That's not living without kids!"

Callie shook her head, her eyes tracing Cristina's smooth features and the anger in her eyes; it was almost hiding the sorrow, but Callie could detect it right there in those dark pools. "Arizona slept with that Lauren person. During the storm while we were trying to save lives, she felt that she had the time to go into an on-call room and have sex with another woman." She tried her best to sound calm, to be in control, but it was quickly proving to be very difficult, "We have a child together. We took vows."

The other woman licked her lips and continued, "I don't think I can be with him anymore. I don't think he truly means he doesn't want kids. I don't want to compromise myself. I don't want kids, I can't – I don't have room for them in my life."

"I have a kid." Callie said, replying to her as she huffed out air, "I have a kid. With a dead father and a mother who's barely there after she decided to walk all over everything we built together." She could hear how upset she was starting to sound, but she couldn't control herself; she'd needed to say this for some time now, and she hadn't known how to. "Sofia is missing them. She used to have three caring parents and at the moment I'm all alone."

"Sofia can have Owen. He wants kids. Maybe you can share her." Cristina replied, and the two of them stared at each other for a second, before they both looked away and Cristina stood up to leave the room, effectively ending their little therapy-session.

Callie watched the door close behind her, and felt her body fill with relief after that conversation; that was the thing with Cristina. She could unload on her, she could tell her all the fucked up things in her life, and their relationship was weird like that, because they didn't really help each other, they just said every screwed-up thing that popped into their heads.

Reaching into the pocket of her scrubs, Callie got out her cell phone. As nice as her conversation with Cristina had just been, it hadn't really helped her that much. She needed to talk to someone else, someone who'd strangely enough also always been there for her, even at a distance. And maybe – maybe it was good. Everything was a mess around her right now anyway; the night of the storm so many things had happened; Webber was barely alive right now after being electrocuted in the basement and Bailey was a mess because she kept blaming herself for being angry with him. Meredith almost died after giving birth to her son, and apparently the relationship of Christina and Owen was as much in pieces as her own relationship with Arizona.

Addison picked up at the first ring; "Callie!"

Callie could just picture her there; in her office in sunny L.A., enjoying her life far, far away from all of the drama that always seemed to hit Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital. "Hi Addie," she sighed and leaned back in the couch, hoping with every part of her, that every other attending in the hospital was busy doing surgical things so she wouldn't be disturbed, "do you have time to talk?"

"I always have time for you, Callie, you know that." Addison replied and there was a happiness to her voice that Callie had really missed; Addison, ever the optimist, no matter what happened. "So. What's up?"

"Well I'm sure you heard about the newest Shepherd, and Bailey with the staph infection and that Webber was electrocuted, right? And other than the fact that my wife cheated on me with a skanky craniofacial surgeon, I am just peachy." Callie rambled off in one breath, ripping off the band-aid and hoping for the best.

Addison was quiet for a few seconds, and Callie could hear her sit up straight, "Excuse me?" she questioned, and there was disbelief oozing out of her voice, "What did you just say?"

Callie nodded her head, well aware that Addison couldn't see it. "Arizona cheated on me. Yeah. She cheated on me, and Mark isn't here and I have no one to freak out to." She winced, "Addison pleeeeease, let me freak out."

The red-head chuckled lowly, "Come on, Callie, hit me."

"I used to walk tall, Addie, I just to walk tall around this hospital, you know that. And then there was George, and that was silly, but then there was Erica, and – and that was really good, and I thank you for that, because if you hadn't made me realize I was bi-sexual, I would still be sleeping with random men I met in bars." She paused, huffing once, twice, before continuing, "And then I got really happy and I thought 'hey, this is what it's supposed to be like. Arizona and I, we're good', but then she cheats on me and God knows she can't lie, so I figured it out. I was even nice to her, Addie. I looked at the skank that wanted to fuck my wife, and I was nice to her."

Addison took her sweet time answering; she was thinking, Callie could hear that, because she made the noise she always makes when she's really contemplating something and weighing her options. "You'll still walk tall, Callie. I know you, okay? You're a fighter, and you'll be fine."

Callie knew that she was right; she knew that Addison was right and that everything was going to be so fine. But how could it be, when it felt like her entire world was ending? When she felt so certain that she'd lost the woman she loved and everything she'd worked so hard to keep for the last year? "I know, I know." She whispered, but she could feel the pressure on her chest; the need to cry, to let it out somehow… it was slowly starting to overpower her now that she was finally talking, she wasn't sure if she could stop it. It was a miracle that she hadn't broken down over a body in the OR like when Erica left her. And this pain, it was a million times worse. "I just – how could she, Addie? How? She couldn't even explain, all she told me was 'I don't know'."

"It doesn't seem like the Arizona I met." Addison whispered, trying to reassure her, even if that had to be difficult from so far away, "I know that a lot must have changed for you two with the plane crash, but for someone to change to drastically…" she trailed off. "It doesn't seem like her."

Brushing a piece of her hair away, Callie knew that now was the time where she was supposed to defend her wife, but hell, she wasn't the one who'd fucked someone else, so she didn't really care at the moment. "She can be selfish, Addie. She's been so great, and she really came around and tried to picture her life differently – for me. For us. But maybe a person really can't change that much, maybe it was just a matter of time, before… before she ran again."

"But she loves you, Callie." Addison replied, as if that was going to fix everything. As if love was simply enough. "Maybe – maybe she needed this to just – let go of everything and figure it all out?"

"I know that her life was fucked up, and I know that we had problems, okay?" Callie replied, and she had tears of anger – sadness – luring in her eyes, and they were dangerously close to falling. "But if you have problems, you start drinking, or, or gambling, or I don't know – smoking! You never start cheating!"

Addison was quiet on the other end of the line.

Callie heaved out, trying to get her breathing under control as the tears finally started spilling from her eyes. She could feel her cheeks getting wet, and it was sort of comforting to have that release, to finally let it all go after holding it in since that fatal night. "I'm not, I'm not asking you to pity me, and I'm not going to say that I can't live without her, because I damn well know that I can. Life goes on. But Addie, I just – I'm not sure if I want to. What if – what if I can't forgive her? Or what if she doesn't even want me anymore?"

Again, Addison was abnormally quiet, for a very long time, but Callie wasn't going to start talking this time. She was going to wait until her friend started talking because – after all – that was why she'd dialled her number; to get help from her. When the other woman finally spoke, it was nowhere near what Callie had hoped to hear. "I can't tell you that. Only time can tell you that. And you need to figure out whether or not you'd want to work through this with her, Callie – because if she comes asking for forgiveness, you have to know whether or not you can give it to her."

Logically, Callie knew that Addison was right – but it was just so much easier said than done. Sure, one could say that they might forgive someone else, but if the relationship had to work, they had to mean that. And she just wasn't sure if she could, because Arizona had slept with another woman. It wasn't like she'd broken their lamp and then lied about it. "But how do I know that?" she whispered, tears still making their way down her cheeks, albeit much more peacefully right now.

Addison sighed, "Only time can tell."

"But-"

"Are you even talking to each other?" Addison questioned, before Callie had time to object. "Like, have you two tried just peacefully talking about something safe? Sofia for instance?"

Swallowing, Callie replied with a short, "No."

Addison continued, "Maybe you should do that. You two need to figure out whether or not there's still a chance to be together. Because if there is, you owe it to your marriage and to Sofia to try, don't you think?" she paused, before adding, "I've never known you happier than you've been with Arizona. She's good for you, Callie."

"I know that." Callie whispered. As perky and happy that (normal) Arizona had a tendency to be, she was good for her. She was the good to Callie's bad; the positive to her negative and they just fitted. From day one they'd just made sense.

"Try." Addison whispered, and there was love and affection in her every word, "And remember – I'm just a phone call away, or a plane ride if you really need me." She chuckled, "You should come visit anyway. Get a break from all the rain and go to the beach with me."

Callie couldn't help but laugh; it was the first genuine smile on her face in weeks; a smile that hadn't been put there by Sofia. "Thank you, Addie. You're the best."

"Damn straight I am." Addison said, before she hung up the phone.

Callie sighed heavily and dropped the phone back into her pocket. She stared at the door, and tried to will herself to stand up and face the world again. It was proving to be a bit difficult, but she was going to listen to Addison, because Addison was smart and she was good at helping her with relationships. Her friend had a point – she needed to talk to Arizona, and she was going to make a promise to herself. By the end of this day, she would have spoken to her; she would proposition for her to come hang out with Sofia tonight, and maybe, when they'd put their daughter to sleep, they could talk. Yes, that sounded good.

If she didn't murder her instead.

X

"So what exactly is this Nevada person doing here?" Jane questioned, as she glanced at Maura with a tired look. She seemed to be utterly uncomfortable with all of these busy people around her, as they waited at Arrivals for Arizona's plane to get there.

Maura raised a perfectly plugged eyebrow at her best friend, "Arizona," she sighed, "and look Jane, I thought we already went over this? Arizona is coming here because she needs some time away from Seattle to regroup. Things have been hard on her lately, and she needs my help to get through this." She continued to explain, as she glanced at the other woman. Jane looked tired tonight; it had been another hard day of endlessly chasing a criminal with practically no leads. Maura could tell that the last thing Jane wanted was to be social tonight, but she'd just have to.

Jane made a face, "But how do you know this Virginia woman?" she questioned.

Shaking her head, Maura patiently continued, "She was my best friend in medical school, and we spent quite a lot of time together in my 20's." she shrugged her shoulder, "She was in a plane crash a while ago and she lost her leg. Now she's having problems with her wife, and everything's just a bit too much, so I suggested she come here. She's married to another surgeon from the hospital she works at." She paused, "You already know all of this, Jane, you went to their wedding with me."

Brushing a piece of her hair out of her eyes, Jane said, "I did? I don't remember any wedding, all I remember was having to wear a dress and heels and pretend to smile at people I don't care about."

Maura rolled her eyes, "You're incorrigible. And you will be nice."

"But Mauraaaaa!" Jane whined as she jumped slightly up and down in that childish way only she knew how to. Maura really adored it, but she wasn't going to let her friend know that. "I don't want to be social tonight, I want to drink beer and relax with you!"

"Arizona drinks beer." Maura replied, as she glanced towards the gate, but she couldn't spot Arizona's blonde hair yet; the plane had barely landed, of course it would take some time for her to find her luggage. She was quite excited to hear how the plane ride had gone, after all – Arizona wasn't really too fond of planes after the crash. And that was perfectly understandable with everything she had been through, Maura believed.

Jane seemed to find that fact a little bit pleasing. "Oh, so she's not into fruity drinks like you are?" she stuck her hands into her pockets and continued, "Well I guess that's something."

Maura checked her watch again, before replying to the brunette, "I hope you can share some of the beers I have stocked for you in my fridge with her."

"What? Maura!" Jane looked utterly appalled at the suggestion, "My beer! You want to take my beer from me!?"

"Share it, Jane." Maura said as she glanced at her with a telling look. Her best friend could be so completely foolish and childish, and Maura had no idea why, but she found it so amusing. If it was any other person, she'd hate it, but with Jane she just found it to be a lovely quality. Along with a long list of many, many other lovely qualities that Jane possessed.

Jane crossed her arms across her chest and clenched her jaw. "I am so mad at you right now. And what about Ma? Have you told her that you're getting another guest? What about the guesthouse?"

Maura looked at her friend, trying to hide her smile, "I told your mother that I had a guest coming, and she was quite excited to hear that. She can stay in the guesthouse though; I'll just set Arizona up in the room you usually stay in." she explained; as if she didn't have enough rooms in her house to keep every guest of hers completely satisfied. A good night's sleep was important for a healthy life. If one didn't sleep well, the body wouldn't be able to function properly.

"My beer and my room!?" Jane said, and when Maura gave her a certain look in reply, she added, "Oh, of course I'll share with her, I feel so lucky. A person named Indiana is going to drink my beer and sleep in my bed. Lucky me!" she smiled.

Blinking, Maura replied, "Well that's good, Jane. Thank you."

Rolling her eyes, Jane said, "That was sarcasm, Maura! Sarcasm!"

"You can just sleep in my bed, Jane. It's not like we haven't slept in the same bed before." Maura replied, once more checking her watch; Arizona had to be there any moment now. "I find it quite soothing and relaxing. I always feel much safer when you're with me."

Jane looked perplexed, and Maura had to admit that she was enjoying it a little bit, "Ya' tryin' to lure me into bed again? What? Are you attracted to me?" she joked with a raised eyebrow.

Shrugging her shoulders, Maura said, "I do find you quite attractive, Jane. You have an incredible physique and an admirable bone structure. You know I think you're beautiful."

Jane was quiet for a second and Maura looked at her, awaiting a reply. She was saved by the bell though, because her phone went off, and she quickly dug her hand into the pocket of her blazer and pulled it out. "It's a text from Frost." She said, as she continued to read it, "They're still digging through those old case files. Seems like they're gonna be there all night."

Maura offered Jane a soft look, "I'm sorry there was no match for the DNA in the database."

"Yeah, me too." Jane replied with a sigh, as she smiled softly at Maura too. She had that certain look in her eyes; it was clear how much she cared about her case and her job, and it pained her deeply to not be able to catch the bastard that murdered that woman last week.

Not quite able to tear her eyes away from her best friend, Maura was only pulled out of it when a very familiar voice spoke her name; "Maura?"

Turning on her heel, Maura couldn't hide the grin that appeared on her face immediately when she saw her old best friend stand just a few feet away with a shy smile on her face. "Arizona!" she greeted happily as she stepped into the open arms of the other woman. She hugged her tightly and then took a step back to get a look at her, "It's so good to see you." She whispered, as she took in the sight of the blonde woman; it had been entirely too long since she'd laid eyes on her in person, and it felt nice to do so again. Arizona Robbins was still incredibly beautiful.

"It's good to see you, Maura. You look fantastic." Arizona replied as she reached down to grab the handle of her suitcase once more. She looked tired, but glad to be there. It appeared that it had been a rough flight.

Maura gave her arm a comforting pad, "You want to talk about the plane ride?" she questioned, knowing that it had probably been horrible for her friend.

Arizona forced a smile, "Maybe later." She whispered, before she glanced expectantly at Jane, "And you must be Jane, right?"

Stepping forward, Jane reached her hand out and offered it to Arizona, "Jane Rizzoli, it's nice to meet you, Arizona." She replied, as she glanced at Maura with glistening eyes.

Maura once more felt entirely amused with her best friend.

Nodding her head, Arizona shook Jane's hand, "Yes. I guess we didn't really meet properly at my wedding. I'm sorry for that, but Calliope and I just had a lot on our plates that day."

"Calliope?" Jane questioned with disbelief, and Maura felt the need to step in before Jane started making jokes about that name, too.

"Let's get going, shall we?" she said, as she forced the handle of the suitcase out of Arizona's hand so she could take over, "You must be tired. Jane and I thought we'd stop for some food on the way, what do you say?" she suggested, as the threesome made their way towards the exit. She glanced briefly towards Arizona's leg, but was pleased to see that the other woman seemed to be walking almost normally now. Anyone who didn't know that she was an amputee wouldn't be able to tell so.

Jane then forced the handle of the suitcase out of her hand, "Let me take that." She lowly murmured, and when Maura tried to resist by taking back the handle, she continued, "Maura, let me take the damn suitcase."

Well aware of the fact that Arizona was watching their little exchange with wide eyes, Maura straightened her back and replied, "Thank you, Jane." With a forced smile, before she turned to her friend, still so unbelievably happy to have her there. "I'm going to warn you right now, Arizona, you're not my only guest at the moment. Jane's mother is living in my guesthouse. Angela is very kind, but you're going to have to settle for my guest bedroom."

Arizona smiled at her, "Oh, that's perfect, I don't require an entire house to stay with you, Maura."

"And I must warn you, too," Jane cut in with hiss, "she's chatty, and she's going to talk to you, but if she annoys you, just kick her. You now have my permission to kick her."

"Jane!" Maura warned her as she shook her head and they stepped outside, heading towards the parking lot, "You have a fantastic mother, and you shouldn't encourage people to kick her." She smiled apologetically at Arizona, "She's incorrigible. Don't listen to her."

Jane continued, "And that's not the only thing you'll have to share a house with. She has a pet turtle."

"Tortoise!" Maura corrected her, on reflex, which caused a small smile to appear on her face. They'd had this discussion just a few too many times.

Arizona laughed, "You still have Bass? That's fantastic!"

Jane raised an eyebrow, just as they stopped in front of her car and she unlocked the trunk, "You know about the turtle?"

"Of course I still have Bass, he's my pet." Maura replied, and she couldn't help but smile at the thought of her companion who loved English strawberries more than anything. Of course Arizona knew Bass; Bass had been in her life for eternity, and Jane knew that. But Jane also knew that he was a tortoise and not a turtle, but she still seemed to forget that often enough.

Turning to smile at Jane, Arizona replied, "I do know Bass. I lived with Bass all through medical school. Isn't this just super?"

Smacking the trunk of her car close, Jane clutched her keys and said, "Yeah, that's… super."

Shooting her friend a stern look, Maura said, "Let's get going, Jane." Before she heard the car unlock and pulled the door to the passenger's seat open. She was so happy that Arizona was there, and she still couldn't get over the fact that she'd be spending the next many nights with her old friend. But if Jane was going to be Jane, she was pretty sure that she and Arizona might clash; even though Arizona wasn't as bubbly as she once used to be, she was still a lot perkier than Jane usually had the patience for.

Maura smiled to herself as she got into the car. She was going to have fun with this.

I promised you Callie and Jane, didn't I? Here they were, and I hope you liked that. A lot of Grey's Anatomy-goodness in the beginning (Addison and Cristina are two of my favourite characters, besides Callie), and then some Rizzles moments in the end! I feel fairly confident with my Callie – but how did I do Jane justice?

The story is going to follow the after march of the season nine finale of Grey's Anatomy (as written in the summary), and it sort of picks up around season four of Rizzoli & Isles. I am going to mention some of the things from the show, but they're not going to play a major part in this fic.

I am happy that I received a few reviews for the first chapter – I wasn't sure anyone was going to find this fiction in the crossover-section (and why doesn't it show up on the actual sections for both shows when one posts something in the crossover-section? It should!), and I'm still not sure whether or not I should just post it in the Grey's Anatomy-section. But then what about the Rizzles-readers? Dilemma!

Is the length of these chapters OK? I usually write chapters about this length, it seems to fit most stories, so what do you think?

The title is of course a reference to the song Lego House by Ed Sheeran; the lyrics to that song sort of fit the story and where I'm going with it.

Disclaimer; I don't own Grey's Anatomy or Rizzoli & Isles. And I totally forgot to disclaim that in the first chapter, even though I make it a point to do so in every chapter I post on this site. So I'm disclaiming it twice now just for good measure: I don't own Grey's Anatomy and Rizzoli & Isles.