Chapter 7

It was a typical day. A day like any other in Seattle. A gloomy day, as the sky was covered in dark clouds and you could feel the dampness in the air. It was going to rain at any moment.

A month had passed since Callie was injured. She had fully healed and was back to work. But this didn't stop the worry from building up in Arizona. She did her best to push her feelings of paranoia aside, but often found herself worried every time Callie went to work that she would get hurt or worse killed.

But this morning, those feelings were able to escape Arizona's mind, even if for just a brief moment in time. Arizona had stayed the night at Callie's and when Callie got up that morning, she decided to make breakfast and leave it for Arizona to eat when she woke up. Callie left a prepared plate on the kitchen counter along with a note and was on her way out.

Callie walked into the locker room at the station and changed into her uniform and got her gear ready for the day. She walked out, grabbed a radio and was out in her cruiser within forty five minutes of getting to work. She drove to the coffee shop just around the corner, grabbed her morning brew and was on her way into the busy streets of Seattle.

Arizona woke up to an empty bed. She immediately missed the feeling of Callie being next to her. She sat up and slowly stretched out her body before getting up off the bed, putting on a pair of sweats and an old t-shirt of Callie's. She headed out to the kitchen to find a plate sitting on the counter with a note.

Morning beautiful,

I made you some breakfast and there is a fresh pot of coffee waiting for you. Sorry, but I had to get to work and you were still sleeping. I didn't want to wake you. Hope you enjoy the breakfast. If you come by tonight after your shift at the hospital, I'll have a nice dinner cooked for you. Hope to see you tonight.

Have a good day at work.

Love,

Callie

A smile crept up Arizona's face, but only for a moment as the reality sunk. Callie is a cop. Her work puts her in harms way all the time. What would Arizona ever do if Callie were more seriously hurt? What if she were killed? Arizona's mind was running a mile a minute, and she finally felt that the only thing to do at a time like this was to go talk about it with her best friend Teddy. Arizona shoved the food in her mouth, chewing violently and swallowing it down with gulps of coffee, not even bothering to pour it into a mug, just drinking it directly from the pot, she grabbed her bag and headed for the hospital across the street.

Once she was there, she immediately paged Teddy to the PEDS wing of the hospital. The gears in Arizona's mind were running like mad and she could feel her heart beating heavily in her chest. She had worked herself up into a tizzy, and she desperately needed her best friend to tell her what to do.

Teddy walked up to the nurse's station once she reached PEDS and was about to ask where Arizona was when she saw her friend approaching rather quickly. "Hey I got your page, do you need a consult?" Teddy asked.

"Something like that…" Arizona firmly wrapped her hand around Teddy's bicep and pulled her forcefully into the nearest on-call room. "…..it's Callie."

"Oh my god, is she alright? What happened?" Teddy asked. Eyes widened at the mention of Callie's name. Arizona simply shook her head in response.

"No, she's fine. I'm not. What am I doing Teddy? Callie's a cop. That puts her in danger every day and what happened to her made me realize that. Like really realize it. I just, I don't know if I can handle it."

"Yeah, but she's okay. She made it with barely a scratch. And you knew she was a cop from the get go." Teddy responded with a look of confusion, not certain of where this conversation was heading.

"I know I did, but this incident opened my eyes to just how serious it could get. I don't know if I can handle it if anything worse were to happen, and it could happen. I've already dealt with the loss of my brother, I don't want to go through that again. It's just too hard." Arizona said as she sat down on one of the empty beds, her face resting in her hands. "Tell me what to do Teddy."

"I can't tell you what to do. But what I think would be a good idea is to talk to Callie about your feelings. Tell her about your fears. Tell her how you really feel. Otherwise this is just going to eat you up inside." Teddy said as she sat next to Arizona, rubbing circles on her back with the palm of her hand.

Later that night, Callie had gone home from her shift and quickly changed into jeans and a t shirt before heading into the kitchen to prepare dinner for her and Arizona. Things between her and Arizona were blossoming very well and she loved every minute she got to spend with her. She was happy to cook for her and just to have her company every opportunity they had.

Callie was cooking up a storm in the kitchen when she heard the door open. She looked to see that Arizona had just come in. Arizona, not even undoing her jacket walked to the bar counter in front of where Callie was standing cutting up vegetables.

"Ugh, I had the most boring day today. I did absolutely nothing. I sat in the cruiser all day. Just sitting, watching the street. Mind you, it gave me a chance to catch up on my paperwork but….Arizona.." Callie said looking up to see a very serious look on Arizona's face. "...why don't you take your coat off. Stay awhile…have dinner." Callie said laughing a little to herself.

"I'm not staying…." Arizona started but was cut off by Callie.

"You're not? Why? Is everything okay?" Callie asked.

Arizona choked up and couldn't get out what she wanted to say, instead opted for "everything is fine."

"Then why don't I believe you? If there's something going on, I can only hope that you trust me enough to let me in." Callie responded.

Arizona's could feel her heart practically beating out of her chest from anxiety. She knew that what she was about to say was going to be difficult. Arizona took in a deep breath, looked at Callie with sad eyes and opened her mouth. "We can't be together anymore. I'm sorry, I…."

Callie cut her off. "What? This is a joke right?" Callie couldn't believe what she was hearing. She thought everything was fine between her and Arizona. She thought they were actually going somewhere. "I don't understand, Arizona. I thought we were in a good place. I thought we were actually heading somewhere in this relationship. So you better start talking fast because I don't understand a damn thing right now."

"I can't handle the stress of worrying if you're safe. I can't handle the overflow of fear wondering every day when you walk out your door or my door if you're going come back alive and uninjured. I just can't handle it. You're world is too dangerous for me to deal with. I won't survive if something should happen to you. I won't survive it…not again." Arizona blurted out trying to hold back the tears that were threatening to escape her eyes and doing everything to avoid any eye contact with Callie.

"Again? What are you talking about? Where is all this coming from? You knew what my job entailed from the very beginning. Why is this an issue now?" Callie asked but received no answer as she watched Arizona make her way to the door. "Arizona!"

"I'm sorry Callie, I really am. Please, don't make this any harder than it already is. Let's end this now before we get in too deep." Tears were fully running down Arizona's face now.

And with that, Arizona was gone, leaving Callie shocked, hurt, confused and numb standing in the middle of the kitchen.

Arizona stood outside the apartment building glancing up at Callie's window. They hadn't been together that long, and Arizona felt she did was best, but she didn't know that it would hurt this much.