A/N: thanks to everybody for the response and feedback! I truly wasn't expecting that :) you all rock!
Summer, 1990. Faded denim shorts and tanned bare legs, towels on a sandy beach and sun-bleached hair.
Arizona raised herself onto one arm, lifting her sunglasses slightly to look directly at the girl beside her. Squinting in the sun, she grinned. "Miami is the best."
The girl beside her beamed, skin bronzed in a red bikini top. "The view certainly is," she teased, taking in Arizona's appearance. "Do you want ice cream?"
Arizona grinned, her cheeks dimpling. She pretended to consider the offer. "Nah," she decided. "I want you."
Callie's nose crinkled as she laughed. "Then it's a good job I want you, too," she replied, tangling her hand in Arizona's damp blonde hair and pulling her in. As their lips met, Arizona tasted sea salt. She allowed herself to be pulled on top of Callie, and as Callie wrapped a leg around her, she realised there was no place she'd rather be.
She bounced up the steps to Mark's, red Converse crunching on the snow. Banging on the door, she grinned excitedly and traced loopy patterns in the ice on the windowpane.
"Maaaark," she called. "I know you're in there." She wouldn't have dared but for the fact she knew Addison was at work. Since her first encounter with Addison a month ago she'd learned two things: that her relationship with Mark was highly unstable, and that she was best friends with Callie. It put them all in an awkward position: Mark was her best friend, Addison was Callie's… She tried to stay out of her way as much as possible, but it was hard, especially at work. They'd reached a degree of civility at work – both she and Addison were too professional to let life interfere with saving a patient – but outside of the hospital there was no love lost. For two women who'd barely exchanged a hello, they knew too much about one other's lives to be friendly.
The door opened, startling Arizona from her musings. Mark looked dishevelled, his shirt rumpled and his face unshaven.
She winced sympathetically. "Did you sleep in your clothes?" Taking in the bags under his eyes, she reconsidered and amended: "Did you sleep at all?"
He stood aside to let her in. "Not really," he admitted, running a hand through his hair wearily and following her to the kitchen. "We argued. Again."
Arizona raised her eyebrows in concern. "Can it be fixed?"
"I don't know," he shook his head and shrugged. "Look, I have to get changed and then we can go, okay?"
She nodded, heading to the coffee maker. "I can wait."
Mark wrapped his hands around the coffee cup and stared into the middle distance. Overnight Seattle had become a whole new land: familiar landmarks frosted gently with dustings of snow, glitter where previously, there had been none. Arizona loved the snow. It made her feel like anything was possible. She remembered being a little kid and playing in the garden with Timothy: building snow forts and igloos and hiding until their dad came to find them after dark. She tore her eyes away from the kids playing in the park and watched Mark's breath form clouds in the cold air.
"I don't know what we're going to do," he frowned helplessly. "Maybe we should just call it a day, but… She's who I keep coming back to."
Arizona bit the inside of her lip. "Does she know, Mark? Does she know how much you love her? Because I do. You tell me, because I'm your best friend, but do you tell her?"
"She knows."
"But does she?" She scuffed her toes into the fresh white snow. "Mark, you flirt with nurses, you flirt with other doctors, you flirt with me – and we both know none of it's serious, but does she?"
He stared at the ground, lost in thought. "Why wouldn't she?"
Arizona couldn't help rolling her eyes. "For a womaniser, you don't know very much about women." She started walking, frost crunching underfoot. "She gave up her life in LA for you, right? She came back. She left here because there was nothing for her – but she came back for you." She looked over at him and shrugged. "So maybe she feels like she loves you more than you love her."
"What?! That's crazy!" Mark exclaimed. "I would never have asked her to come back if I didn't love her. I wouldn't have done that to her if I didn't think we could last."
"I know. But she made a huge life change, and what did you do? You still flirt with everyone with a pulse. You need to show her that she's special." She trailed her fingers over a snow-encrusted railing. "Show her she's the one."
Mark looked at her with new respect. "Robbins, for someone with a romantic history that looks like a train wreck, you know a lot about fixing things." He winced. "Ouch. Sorry. I didn't mean it."
She smiled, shrugged. "It's true. I've made a mess of everything in my personal life. I didn't expect to have to stare it in the face when I accepted this job, though."
"What's going on with you and Torres?" he asked, ice-blue eyes full of concern.
"Nothing." But it wasn't true. What was going on was Arizona staying up late and barely sleeping, playing back her memories on loop: the look in Callie's eyes after their first kiss, the night they danced at prom, the way they'd screamed and held hands in a haunted house. And then more recently: Callie's facial expression when she'd come face-to-face with her past, the way she'd run away like Arizona had been doing ever since they'd broken up. "She hates me. She doesn't want to see me, and I can't blame her for that." Since they'd met in the hallway, Callie had been doing everything in her power to avoid Arizona. It had made for a month of near misses: Arizona couldn't count the times she'd been walking down a corridor in the hospital, only to see Callie coming towards her and watch her turn and flee. It didn't help that the hospital was rife with gossip about her relationship with George, some guy Arizona hadn't had the pleasure to meet. Unfortunately, the fact she didn't have a face to match to the name didn't stop her stomach churning every time she thought about it.
Mark wasn't fooled. "Have you told her?" he asked pointedly.
Arizona laughed softly. "No. She's with George now. She wouldn't listen." And why should she? They'd been hopelessly in love – so much so that they thought it was too good to be true. Every time Arizona had woken up in Callie's bed, every time they'd run across the school courtyard to each other from their respective lessons, every time… Every time, she'd thanked her lucky stars, because she didn't know what she'd possibly done to deserve this. And then it came, the call that meant they had to move. She'd never hated being a marine brat as much as in the moment her father had told her they had to leave. She'd run from the kitchen, barricaded herself into her room and stared blankly into the mirror, seeing only red.
They were driving, the roof down on Callie's red convertible. It'd started off a sunny day but as they'd got more and more hopelessly lost, the rain had begun. Drizzle at first, then heavy raindrops began to fall, and as they rounded the bend on yet another winding country road, they saw a fork lightning hit a nearby tree, ripping the sky into jagged pieces.
"I love you," Arizona giggled, placing a hand over Callie's on the gearstick.
The brunette turned to look at her, her mouth twisting automatically into a wide smile. "I love you more," she replied, intertwining their fingers. "Do you think we're lost enough yet?"
"Yeah," Arizona smiled softly. "Pull in at the next hostel?"
"He's going to be fine," she beamed. "We'll keep monitoring him, but we don't see any reason why he shouldn't be able to go home tomorrow." She exchanged triumphant glances with Derek as they watched the parents hug each other incredulously, hardly able to believe what they were hearing. Slipping quietly from the room, they stood outside the young boy's room and watched the celebrations.
"We did it," Derek grinned at her.
"We did," she smiled back. These were the good cases: the kids that came in battered and bruised, needing multiple surgeries, and then managed to walk out of the hospital on their own two feet. These were the cases that stopped her even considering changing professions. Peds was hardcore. It was dark, unfair, painful, but the ones you could save or even help in a tiny way… They made it all worth it.
Derek handed her the chart. "Congratulations, Doctor Robbins," he smiled. "Drinks to celebrate?"
She smiled back. "That sounds nice." Turning to place the chart back in the trolley, she was almost knocked off her feet by Callie, who looked close to punching somebody out. The pile of surgical supplies Callie had been carrying was knocked to the floor.
"I'm – I'm sorry," Arizona stammered, the smile knocked clean off her face. Both she and Derek bent to help pick the supplies up.
Callie glared. "Why are you always in the way?" she hissed, eyes full of anger.
Arizona was taken aback by the hatred she detected in Callie's eyes. "I – I was just putting a chart away – I didn't know you were trying to get past."
Derek frowned. Callie was an old friend of his and he'd never seen her so unreasonable. "Callie, it was an accident," he stepped in, trying to diffuse the situation. "Look, here are your things, no damage done, it's okay."
Callie laughed bitterly. "You know nothing about the harm she's capable of, Derek. Stay out of it. And you," she looked directly at Arizona, "stay the hell out of my life."
They'd paid for the room with the money Arizona's mom had lent her, spent the evening building houses out of playing cards. Outside, the thunder continued to roll, and Callie drew the curtains against the cold. They held each other under blankets and afterwards, they huddled concealed underneath with a torch, shutting out the world.
"I'm so in love with you," Callie had whispered.
"I know," Arizona had replied. "I'll love you forever, Calliope. I never want to leave."
Callie had cried, and as Arizona held her tight she felt her tears drip onto her shoulders. She had rubbed her back, listened to her breathing go crazy, and when Callie pulled back to look at her, she tried to memorise the eyes in which love blazed so fiercely. When Arizona kissed her Callie had kissed her back fiercely, and when she'd touched Callie it had been as if it were the last time.