CHAPTER FIVE

The frantic knocking on the door was Callie's rescue; she'd been lying on her back, staring straight into space since she hung up the phone, and she hadn't been able to move. What was up with her these days? She usually wasn't like this, she was usually a lot cooler than this. She used to bounce back and forget the bastard who broke her heart, but this time? No, noooo way. She had to lie there like a maniac and lose her shit every other day.

Maybe it was because she'd changed. Or maybe it was because this was Arizona, and Arizona was the one person she'd loved more than anyone else.

The knocker was persistent, Callie had to give her that. She dragged herself out of bed and pulled on her bathrobe, happy that Sofia could sleep from practically any noise when she was finally down for the night. Otherwise she would have had a crying kid on top of everything, and she did not have the energy for that right now. She loved Sofia and everything, but damn, it was hard to have kids. You started worrying about other things, and suddenly there was this person in your life you just missed constantly, even when she was just in the other room, playing with her favourite bricks and building houses.

She swung the door open, and couldn't help but let out a huge sigh of relief when she saw who was on the other side. She'd called her, of course, but not everyone was cool enough to show up just like that. "Bailey."

"You call me in the middle of the night, so this better be an emergency." Miranda told her off, brushing pass her and into the apartment. She was wearing sweatpants, and her hair looked ridiculous, but she was there, and Callie could feel that it was all she needed right now.

The Latina closed the door behind her and turned to look at her co-worker – her friend – with a small smile. "Thank you for coming."

Miranda threw her jacket on the back of the couch and offered her a soft look, "Of course I'm going to come, Torres, when you bawl your eyes out to me on the phone." She took a seat on the couch and padded the spot next to her, "Tell me what's going on? What's all this with you and Robbins splitting up? I was there when you took your vows and said your 'I do's, this will not be accepted by me!"

Callie sighed and took a seat next to her. She almost did not have the energy to explain this entire thing all over again, and perhaps she didn't need to. She didn't want Bailey to look at her with pity, and she didn't want to be the victim here. All she wanted was some help to fix it. "Arizona is in Boston right now, staying with her old friend, and I have no idea where, because she didn't tell me she was leaving."

Miranda tilted her head, "Robbins went to Boston? Why?"

"We're sort of... not in a very good place right now." Callie started to explain, and when Miranda gave her a look, urging her to tell her more, she added, "We're in an Arizona-is-going-to-Africa-even-if-she's-with-me place right now." She finished as she made a face. Of course this was ten times worse, because what Arizona did back then could be forgiven. This was unforgivable. And Callie even told her that she shouldn't let her back in because she was going to hurt her again. Arizona had reassured her, told her that she wouldn't, and now... Now it was happening anyway.

The other woman rolled her eyes. "Your wife is stupid, Torres. She runs when she can't handle things, did you know that? You married a runner."

Callie knew that she had married a runner – and she hated that she even fell for one, because who was she to think that it was going to go well for her in the end? "I know that."

"And now she's in Boston?"

"Now she's in Boston." Callie confirmed with a slight nod of the head, "She went to stay with some old friend of hers – from medical school. Which is okay, I guess, if she'd just told me about it. But I don't know when she'll be back and Sofia is really missing her."

Miranda arched an eyebrow, "Do you have no idea why she left?" she questioned in that matter-of-fact-way that only she could.

Oh boy, did she have an idea. Callie knew perfectly well why she left, even if it was stupid. "She left because of our problems... I don't know. I think she might not come back to me. I mean, I know she'll be back here, but... Not with me, not this marriage. She never got over the leg-thing."

It seemed like everything just made sense inside of Miranda's head at this point, because she made a small 'aha'-sound and nodded her head, "Oh Robbins and that stupid leg! You saved her life, did you tell her that? Did you tell her that if you hadn't told them to cut the damn thing off, she would be dead right now. Buried. In the ground!"

"I did tell her that." Callie replied, and she couldn't stop a small smile from appearing on her face at this point, because Bailey just had a way of doing that to her. The way that the other woman so bluntly shared her thoughts and told her what she believed to be right or wrong in this – in any – situation. It was refreshing, and nice, and Callie loved her for it.

Miranda seemed to think about that for a second or two; her front teeth were digging into her bottom lip, and she suddenly seemed very awake for someone who'd been called out of bed in the middle of the night. "So what are you going to do about it now?"

Shrugging, Callie looked at her. She leaned back in the couch and closed her eyes for a second, musing all of the different advice over. Every person she talked to told her something different. Addison had told her one thing, and then Alex had told her something else. She wished Mark was there; Mark would have told her what to do, and she would have taken his advice, because that was just the sort of relationship that they used to have. She opened her eyes again and found Miranda watching her expectantly.

"Well?" the other woman snapped; Callie had better tell her something right away, or it seemed like she was going to be very displeased with this entire situation.

Callie wetted her lips before she spoke, "I'm not sure. I think I might need to give her time, you know? Let her be in Boston and give her time."

Miranda stared at her with disbelief. "Say what?" she questioned, and the way she looked at her, it was damn frightening.

Nodding, Callie continued, "Yeah! Because if I'm going to ask her to come back, I'll just be pushing her here. She doesn't need that right now. Besides, Karev said to give it time."

"And you listened to him!?" Miranda glared at her, her voice almost going shrill as she spoke.

The Latina nodded her head again. "Yeah."

"Why are you so damn stupid!?" Miranda snapped at her and swatted her across the arm. "You can't listen to Karev! He's an idiot! He's the least likely person in that damn hospital to give relationship advice, he knows nothing about relationships!" she shook her head.

Callie stared at the other woman, just stared at her. Now that she mentioned it, that was sort of true. Alex Karev really had no idea what it was like to be in a (normal and healthy) relationship. He married Izzie for Christ's sake! And that Ava person who just turned out to be a nutball. He should have no say whatsoever in the decisions of any relationship. What the hell was she thinking?

Miranda reached forward and grabbed her hand. "I don't get what you're still doing here, Torres. You can't let her go, you know that, right? You two are meant to be together, after everything you've been through." She swallowed loudly and squeezed her hand, and it reassured Callie; told her that someone was there. "God knows there's enough bad stuff going on here right now, and you can't let this be another thing to fall apart. You love Arizona, and she loves you. Even if she can't show it right now, she loves you."

"She's really not showing it at all." Callie whispered, clinging onto her friend and the positive words she was saying.

Continuing, Miranda added, "It's a rough patch, okay? So you need to gather up your beautiful baby girl, pack your bags and go to Boston. You'll go see her, and tell her that you're not letting her go. She needs to know that you're still fighting for this, she needs to know that you're in it."

Callie breathed softly in and out, trying to figure out a way to respond to Miranda, but it was as if all words had left her. She had no idea what to say; no idea how to agree or disagree, to tell her how much she appreciated this. Nothing was coming out of her mouth, not even how much she loved Miranda for doing this for her.

"Go." Miranda whispered, as she squeezed her hand and nodded her head, "Go, Torres. As soon as you can, you just go."

Nodding her head, Callie knew that she was right. She had to go, she had to fight. She wasn't going to let Arizona decide this for her. They were two in a relationship, not just her – she could be so selfish, and often enough, Callie just let her do it; with all the little things. But this wasn't just Thai or Chinese, this was their marriage, their vows. And she was damn well going to fight for them, because she believed in them. Arizona wasn't going to know what hit her; Callie was going to find her, and bring her back home. She was going to tell her that they could work through this, and that she wasn't giving up. She was not a quitter.

X

This was turning out to be not such a horrible evening after all. Jane had to admit that when Maura suggested this outing (as she had so peculiarly called it) last night, she had been sceptic. Wearing fancy pants and drinking fruity drinks was not her thing. But there was a time for beer and a time for drinks, and apparently right now was a time for the latter.

On the bright side – Maura was wearing one of her pretty dresses, and Jane always loved seeing her in those, because they just did her a lot more justice than those white scrubs in the lab. Plus, it just made Jane a lot more happier to see Maura smile that certain way; she always felt so at ease whenever she dressed up and was out. She was comfortable in those settings in a way that Jane could never be herself. Besides, she just frigging hated wearing dresses. She had nowhere to put her gun.

She was stirring that straw-thingie around in her drink while glancing around the bar at all of the people drinking their expensive cocktails. Maura and Arizona had gone to the bathroom, so she was holding down the forth (and she kept checking her phone, waiting for news about the case). She didn't understand how all of those women looked so at ease in their dresses. None of them looked as uncomfortable as she felt right now, and some of those dresses were even tighter. Perhaps it was because they just looked better on them? Jane always thought that she – herself – looked so strange in a dress. But these women... they were gorgeous. None of them were as beautiful as Maura though, because no one could top that. At all.

A blonde woman at the bar caught her eye; apparently she'd been watching Jane while Jane had been watching the other females. She raised her drink for a hello – and Jane nodded her head back to her as she lowered her head and took a long sip of the straw. Yikes, that drink didn't even taste good. It was no beer, and not even Maura could convince her of anything else.

As she looked up from the bottom of her glass, the blonde woman had started making her way towards the tiny table. Jane felt her eyes widen, and she sat up straight, quickly fixing her hair and hoping that the other woman was going to walk right past her table, even though she was looking directly at her. The brunette had no idea why – perhaps she recognised her from somewhere? – but people were just not her thing. Unless those people were Rizzolis. Or Maura. But mostly just Maura.

"Hi." The blonde smiled shyly at her and motioned towards the chair that Arizona had earlier occupied, "Is this seat taken?"

"My," Jane cleared her throat, "my friends are just in the bathroom. They'll be here soon."

The blonde woman took a seat on the chair and placed her drink on the table. "I'm Jennifer. I couldn't help but notice you from across the bar..." she trailed off and battered her eyelashes; her smile was sincere, and she seemed truly interested, "You have amazing hair!"

Jane wasn't quite sure how to receive compliments like that. And for her hair of all things. That was just totally weird and ridiculous. But she smiled anyway. "Thank you. I'm Jane Rizzoli." She held her hand out and Jennifer grabbed it and shook it lightly. "You uh, you come here often?" she finished as she grabbed her drink and sucked the straw into her mouth once more.

"I'm a teacher." Jennifer said, "I like to come here sometimes to unwind." She glanced around, clearly loving the atmosphere and the people, and just everything about the situation, "It's a great place to pick up women too."

Jane almost choked on her drink; she spluttered, coughing a little as she placed the glass on the table again. Oh! She had not seen that one coming! Great! Had they walked straight into a lesbian bar or something? She grabbed the edge of the table and said, "Oh... women? Yeah. I can... imagine." She offered the blonde woman a stiff smile and tried to pretend that this was something she did very often. Was this woman trying to pick her up?

Jennifer giggled; a true girly giggle. Her eyelashes fluttered again, and her lips were perched. She was definitely trying to pick her up! "Oh... not that I just pick up whoever. I have a certain... standard." She finished, and just like that, her deep blue eyes gave Jane a once-over, looking her up and down, from toe to head, and it definitely felt like she was being checked out.

A lump was forming in her throat, and Jane could feel panic rise inside of her body. It was so strange – she could handle just about every bad guy in the book, but this, this she could not handle. She was panicking. "Yeah... who doesn't?" she choked out, before she picked up the glass and emptied it for every last drop. Suddenly she needed the alcohol very badly. Where the fuck was Maura and Arizona?

Another giggle escaped the extremely pink lips in front of her, and Jennifer winked at her, "Don't worry. You certainly passed! So what do you work with? You seem very... fit." She said the last part with a contend sigh and an appreciative look at Jane's strong arms.

Jane was perplexed. "I'm a homicide detective with the Boston PD." She replied, and this, this was something she could talk about. This was something she knew, "Being fit is sort of in the job description."

"Oh!" Jennifer was definitely impressed by this, "So you catch bad guys for a living?" she questioned.

As she opened her mouth to reply to this woman, she had never been more relieved to see Maura in her life. She could just spot her, coming through the crowd, Arizona right behind her, as they made their way towards the table. They seemed to be having fun; laughing with each other. Even Arizona had a huge smile on her face; Jane hadn't known her for long, but she knew that it wasn't often that a smile like that was on her face, not anymore. According to Maura, this woman used to be the epitome of cheerful, but that hadn't been the case the last year or so. Not because of the plane crash. And Jane could understand that – an accident like that, it changes people – but maybe Arizona wasn't changed for good; maybe she could still be fixed and return to her old self.

At least that was what Maura hoped was going to happen. And Jane saw her point, she really did – it was nice if they were able to help Arizona; not just for Arizona, but for her wife and daughter, also. It'd be such a waste if the plane crash was going to cost her more than it already had. It wasn't fair that an accident like that could tear an entire family apart. Not that Jane wasn't used to seeing that; she saw it all the time in her line of work. One thing lead to another, someone did something, murdered someone, and it broke everything apart. Wives lost their husbands, children lost their parents. Brothers lost their sisters. She saw it all the time. And she'd hate it if Arizona was going to lose her family too. She might not know this person for real, but Maura did. Maura knew and loved this woman, so Jane was going to do everything she possibly could to help her fix this.

"Oh hello." Maura said as they returned to the table. She looked at Jennifer with questions in her eyes, before she graced Jane's arm with her hand, "Sorry, there was a long line in the bathroom."

"It was my fault." Arizona added as she grabbed the one spare chair at the table, "I sometimes still have to check my appearance about a gazillion times before I venture into the public." She winced, "Leg-issues."

Jane gave her a slight nod, "This is Jennifer, she's an uh... a teacher." She cleared her throat and reached for Maura's drink too; she was going to need a bit more alcohol in her system, if Jennifer didn't leave soon.

Maura smiled at Jennifer, "I'm Maura, and this is Arizona." She motioned towards the blonde before turning to look at Jane again, "What did you do to your hair?" she reached a finger out and tried to clean up the mess that Jane had made by running her fingers through her curls all the damn time. "Jane, you haven such nice hair. I don't understand why you insist on ruining it every time I attempt to help you style it."

Jennifer's smile stiffened a little bit as she swept off the chair, "Oh God, I am so sorry." She whispered, grasping her drink and staring at Maura, "And such an idiot apparently."

Jane raised an eyebrow, confused by her sudden change of behaviour, and Maura tilted her head confusedly, "How so?" she asked her, truly curious to know.

The blonde woman stared from Jane to Maura and back to Jane again, clearly trying to set something straight, and two seconds after, Arizona was giggling into her hand, trying to disguise it as a cough. There was no fooling Jane though; she caught that one. She wasn't a trained detective for nothing. She glared at her new friend. "Yeah. What?" she questioned harshly. Something was definitely up here, and she hated not seeing what it was.

Jennifer shook her head and smiled softly at Maura, "I apologise, Maura, I truly wasn't trying to steal your girlfriend. It's just that – she was here alone, so I thought..." she trailed off, her eyes lingering on the two of them once more, "Oh I see it. I'm sorry, I really am."

Maura offered her a soft smile, "Oh." She whispered, and she sounded a bit perplexed as she blinked, "No, that's quite alright, Jennifer." She added, glancing at Jane for a second or two, "You're not stealing Jane from me. One can never have too many girlfriends!"

Blinking, it was now Jennifer's turn to seem confused, and suddenly Jane saw what was happening. She felt her eyes widen as she realised what Jennifer was thinking (and how Maura, so wonderfully naive, didn't seem to catch that at all), and turned to look at Arizona. She was laughing again, drinking her drink and watching the scene unfold. Oh, how Jane hated that this seemed to amuse her so much.

"Alright..." Jennifer trailed off, taking a step back and holding on tightly to her drink. "I'll leave you three be. Nice to meet you." She added, the last part only intended for Jane, before she turned on her heel and walked towards the bar again.

Maura took a seat on the chair she had just vacated, and turned to look at Jane with a smile, "She seemed pleasant. But why was she leaving so fast? It's not like I can be your only girlfriend. I know you mostly hang out with men, but really Jane, you should have other women in your life besides me and your mother."

Jane just stared at her, not knowing what to reply to that. She wasn't even sure how she felt about the entire situation yet. It was a little bit odd and a little bit frightening. And it wasn't even the first time that something like that had happened, which just made it even weirder. Thankfully, Arizona came to her rescue with a laugh, "Maura, seriously. That super hot woman wasn't trying to be her friend who's a girl, but her girlfriend." She sipped her drink, "She was romantically interested in her, but when you showed up, she thought that she was moving in on your girl, so she dropped it."

"Oh." Maura whispered as realisation hit her. "That's odd, I suppose. Why would she think that Jane was my girl?"

Arizona shrugged her shoulder, and Jane leaned in, also truly interested in hearing this, "Maybe it's the way you touched her hair, or maybe it's the way you looked at her." She flashed her teeth in that trademark smile of hers.

Jane furrowed her brow. What was up with all of those things? That was normal things! Maura touched her hair and looked at her every day, what was so damn weird about that? It was usual! Normal!

Maura turned to look at her, "Well, Jane is my best friend. That's just what we do."

"And you do look super cute together." Arizona added with another smile, before she turned her head and glanced around the bar.

Maura turned to Jane with a confused look on her face, and Jane could do nothing but smile back at her best friend. It was strange that that woman had thought that they were together. And it was strange that Arizona always hinted that they acted out of character as friends. What was so wrong with the way they did things? They dated men. They weren't lovers or girlfriends. They were just Jane and Maura, and they cared about each other. It was just so strange that other people kept trying to make them out to be something more than they were.

Why was that?

"Jane, you're finished with your drink!" Maura suddenly said, breaking the odd silence which had suddenly overcome the table, "I'll go to the bar and get us three more, how does that sound?" she swept off the chair and placed a hand on Arizona's arm, "Alright?"

Nodding, Arizona watched Maura go, before she turned to look at Jane with a teasing smile. It was all over her face; from her lips to her eyes, to the mischievous way she looked at her. Jane wasn't sure if she liked her anymore. Her opinion on her kept changing, and that was very confusing.

"Cut it out, Dakota!" she spat, slamming her palm into the table and glaring at the blonde woman.

Arizona laughed, "I'm not doing a single thing, Jane. I'm just observing. I did not send Jennifer over here, she came on her very own!"

Jane narrowed her eyes in on her again and clenched her jaw. "Why are you hinting this all the damn time, Virginia? I don't get what you see. Maura and I are friends. Friends!"

Something flickered across Arizona's eyes, and she leaned closer, urging Jane to do so as well. She whispered, "Jane, you can say it all you want, but what you and Maura share, that's not friendship. That's partnership. That's the kind of things I do with Callie." She shrugged her shoulder, "I am not saying this to freak you out, because I, for one, think it's super... Just, don't mess it up, okay?" she finished, before she leaned back in her seat again, getting back the comfortable distance between them.

"There is nothing to mess up!" Jane argued with a huff, before she leaned back in her seat as well. She glared at the other woman, as she mused things over. She bit her lip and let her eyes wander to Maura, who was now at the bar, talking to the bartender and ordering their drinks. Maura truly was the most beautiful woman that Jane had ever seen, but that didn't mean, that she wanted to sleep with her... did it?

Arizona was out of her mind. Maura was her best friend, and they were both going to find the right man for themselves to grow old with. Of course that would mean less sleepovers and breakfasts together. They wouldn't get to order in and drink red wine at the counter in Maura's kitchen. They wouldn't argue over the remote (documentary or sports), and they wouldn't get to walk Jo Friday together the way they had been doing. That was the natural progression of things, that was the way it was supposed to be.

But then why did the thought of those changes make her so sad?

Thank you so much for the nice reviews I received for the last chapter! Apparently there were some concerns about this being a Callie/Arizona story, and I can assure you guys that it is! I wouldn't put it in the summary, unless I intended for them to be together. But of course they're not going to fall into each other's arms immediately – they have issues! The way things left off in the last season was hopeless, and I almost expect them to break up when Grey's Anatomy returns. But this is Calzona all the way, the road will be long, but they will find each other, so you guys just need to have patience.

And as for Jane and Maura... they're clearly attracted to each other, they just don't know it. Which is why it's a good thing that Arizona is there to help plant the seeds! ;-)

Disclaimer; I don't own Grey's Anatomy or Rizzoli & Isles.