A/N: I'm so sorry this has been such a long wait! As ever thankyou to all of you for reading - whether you've just stumbled upon this story or whether you've been here since the start. I promise that I will see this through to the end: it might take a long time, and I'm so sorry for the frustratingly sporadic updates, but I don't plan to abandon this story. I simply have a lot of commitments with university and not as much time as I'd like. Heartfelt thanks for your encouraging comments and feedback!
This started off as a fic from Arizona's point of view, since Callie was a pre-established character in the early seasons. Personally I'm more used to writing Callie, and the story is getting to a point where I'm starting to write more of both of their points of view, as they reconnect more.
To the guest reviewer who suggested a Teddy and Callie relationship: the Teddy in this chapter is for you ;)
Arizona pulled away, ran a hand over her mouth, through her hair.
Cristina protested. "Hey, why'd you stop?! That was hot!"
Callie didn't take her eyes off Arizona.
Arizona scrambled to her feet, ran from the room. "I'm sorry, I – I can't."
Mark got to his feet, quickly followed by Alex.
Callie pushed her hair from her face, pulled herself upright. "I'll go."
Mark shook his head but sat back down. Alex looked around, frowned. "I'm going to get another drink," he shrugged, holding up his empty bottle.
She slammed the bathroom door behind her, couldn't breathe. It felt like somebody had ripped the last ten years from beneath her feet. She looked into the mirror and all she could see was the kid she used to be, whom she'd thought was long gone.
"It's easy, Arizona," she'd held a lighter to the cigarette, watched it ignite. "Just bring it to your lips. Breathe in. One, two. Then breathe out. Slowly."
Arizona had shaken her head. "Increased risk of lung cancer, liver spots, premature aging… No, thanks." She'd squeezed Callie's hand to let her know she was joking. Half-joking. This girl was so close to dangerous that Arizona felt herself burning up in her presence.
Callie had shrugged, raised the lit cigarette to her own lips, taken a couple of drags. "You're such a doctor already," she'd teased. She'd laughed as Arizona's eyes lingered on her lips, stubbed the cigarette out, leaned in.
Arizona had bit her lip, felt herself growing dizzy with the scent of Callie and smoke and then Callie's lips were covering hers, her tongue in her mouth, and she stopped thinking.
She shook herself. No. Slid against the door, leant her head on her hands. No.
She jumped out of her skin when she heard a pounding on the door. It jolted through her spine, made her head spin even faster. She rubbed her eyes, blinked, tried to swallow the lump in her throat. "Just a minute," she called weakly.
"Arizona, open the door," Callie said, voice low, head against the door, hand on the door handle.
Arizona swallowed again. "No," she whispered.
"Arizona. I need to talk to you."
She knew Callie couldn't see her, but she shook her head anyway.
Callie sighed, slid down the other side of the door. What had she been thinking? "I'm sorry," she confessed, running a hand through her own hair. "I shouldn't have done that."
Arizona narrowed her eyes slightly at the sink in front of her. "It's just a game. Right?"
Callie shook her head. "Yes. No." She sighed. "I should never have played games with you."
"But you did." She was worth more than this: a cheap kiss in a drinking game. She'd thought Callie thought so, too.
Callie nodded, although Arizona couldn't see you. "Yes."
Arizona shook her head wearily. Callie was a mess. Sure, she had no right to go round kissing her exes, but maybe Arizona had no right to get hung up on it. She'd left, after all. She'd left, and now Callie had been left again. Maybe she deserved an out. It wasn't like Arizona had given her any help picking up the pieces of her broken marriage. She blew her hair out of her eyes. "Are you… How've you been?"
Callie noticed the change in subject, wondered whether 'forgive and forget' was something you grew into. She doubted it. She hadn't needed a kiss to remember all of their shared history but now she'd had one, she wanted more. She shook her head. "I've been…" She laughed. "Awful. A train wreck." It was a relief to be so frank with somebody. Meredith was great, Addison was amazing, but she didn't feel like she could be fully honest with either of them about this: Meredith because she was George's friend, after all, and Addison because she'd committed adultery too, once upon a time. Maybe it was the vodka, but the more Callie thought about this situation, the more ridiculous it got. Sometimes she'd wake up in the morning and it'd take her a few seconds to remember. She always laughed, because otherwise she'd cry. "My husband left me," she giggled, unable to stop.
Arizona furrowed her eyebrows, slightly concerned by the manic giggling. "Do you… Are you okay?" She considered opening the door, but she didn't want Callie falling through it. Besides, there was something comforting about being able to talk to Callie without being face-to-face. If she closed her eyes, she could pretend they were still kids, their whole lives ahead of them.
"No," Callie shook her head, calming down. "No, it's fine. Just… My husband cheated on me. My married-in-Vegas husband cheated on me. It sounds like a bad novel."
Arizona could empathise. Sometimes she looked at her life and realised it sounded like it had been written by somebody with unrealistic notions of fairy tale love. Not that she was going to admit that to Callie, although she supposed her actions had done it for her. Running from the room had probably been the surefire way to make sure everybody knew how she felt.
"And now… I'm living in a hotel. I have no marriage, no property… All I really have is my job, and God knows I haven't been doing much of that recently."
Arizona twisted her mouth. "You need time. Time is okay, time is allowed. So is crying, and shouting, and… Drinking a lot of vodka at parties. But when you're not upset, when you're over being upset… There'll be people lining up for you."
Callie gave a small smile. She jumped as the door began to give way behind her. Looking up, she saw Arizona, slightly tearstained and dishevelled, and holding out her hand. "Come on," she smiled, helping Callie to her feet. "I believe there's a party downstairs."
Callie allowed herself to be pulled upright. "Arizona…" she almost whispered. "Can we be friends?"
Arizona swallowed, never let the smile on her face flicker. "Yes," she nodded. "We can be friends."
Arizona opened the door, stepping back and looking impressed as Callie waltzed through it balancing five pizzas on one hand, three bottles of wine in the other. "Ortho," she shrugged, placing the pizzas down on the worksurface and turning to face Arizona. "I got good hands."
A snort came from the sofa, where Teddy Altman was already lying. "She knows," she mock-whispered, cackling to herself. Arizona blushed.
Raising her eyebrows, Callie turned to stare at Teddy. "Looks like somebody won't be needing any more wine…" She looked questioningly at Arizona.
"She finished early, wanted to celebrate –" Arizona didn't get far before Teddy cut her off. She took the bottles from Callie and walked over to the cupboard to grab another couple of glasses.
"I can speak for myself!" Teddy protested, sitting up suddenly and blinking rapidly as the world tried to readjust itself. Arizona pursed her lips and raised her eyebrows, trying not to laugh. "I rocked my surgery," she babbled, pointing a finger in the direction of Callie. "And so I get wine, because I'm –"
"A rockstar!" Callie finished for her, this line already well-rehearsed. Teddy Altman had arrived at Seattle Grace a week to the day after the disastrous party at Meredith's, and two months later, she was one of Callie's best friends. Teddy had been an army chick, and they'd bonded over their shared experiences, Callie having been in the Peace Corps. Her army background meant she had a lot in common with Arizona, too, and it turned out she'd been in med school with Addison, so she couldn't have fit in better.
Arizona rolled her eyes. "Is Addison stopping by?" She loved Teddy, and being friends with Callie was getting easier and easier, although she couldn't stop her heart fluttering every time they spoke… Which was quite often. But she couldn't shake the feeling that Addison still didn't like her. Wine evenings and nights out passed without incident: Addison had never said a single harsh word to her, not since the party. In fact, they were probably superficially friends. But still…
Teddy shook her head. "Lightweight," she informed them knowingly, brandishing her iPhone in the air. "She stayed up all night with Mark –" she winked, Callie laughing as Arizona pulled a disgusted face "- and she said to tell you all that –" here she paused to read from her phone, adopting what she thought to be Addison's voice – "'Wine evenings are amazing, fantastic even, but so is catching up on sleep in my own bed without you drunkards kicking me in the face. Please try to retain your dignity without me.'"
Callie snorted. "Well, you failed at that one, Teddy."
Arizona lay on her living room floor, idly watching the ceiling fan spin. The silence was broken only by Teddy's snores. She'd made it off the sofa long enough to dance wildly for a few minutes before falling back onto it, passing out in exhaustion.
Callie ran a finger round the rim of her wine glass, watching Arizona. There was something so innocent about her, so angelic, and yet Callie knew the strength behind her eyes. Sometimes she looked at Arizona and saw the future she'd never had, the 'I love you's and the apologies left unsaid. Sometimes she wondered whether she could have fought harder for Arizona; whether, if she'd said the right thing at the right time, they'd still be together now. She wondered whether she'd made a mistake, leaving Arizona on that hill. And the kiss at the party… She'd known better. She'd known how Arizona felt about her. She just wasn't sure what to do with that.
They'd been perfect together, everybody had said it. When Arizona had left, Callie's world had fallen apart. She'd known better than to play on Arizona's feelings, because her own were still just as strong. For a while, Callie had been happy with George, but she wondered whether deep down, she'd just been trying to escape the truth. Everything had changed when Arizona came back into her life, whether she wanted it to or not. And now… Now she was alone, again. Callie didn't know whether she could take another personal disaster right now, however strongly she felt about Arizona.
Arizona looked up and caught her gazing. She gave a self-conscious smile. "What're you thinking?"
Callie held her gaze for a moment too long, wondered whether she should say what was really on her mind. "Just… I'm glad we're friends."
"Me too," Arizona smiled, a little tipsy. She stretched her hand out, patting the carpet to the side of her. "C'mere. It's like magic."
Smiling, Callie set her wine glass on the table and repositioned herself on the carpet.
"Magic. See?"
"That's electricity, sweetheart," Callie grinned, watching the ceiling fan whizz round and round.
Arizona stilled beside her.
"I have something to ask you. It's, well, kind of lame, but…"
Callie raised an eyebrow. "You have something to ask me, ask me." She looked up from her books and noticed Arizona shaking. "Wait, what's wrong?"
"I've never asked a hot girl to prom before," Arizona mumbled.
Callie broke out in a grin, sure that her girlfriend was the most adorable person in the world.
"So ask her," she replied, puckering her lips flirtatiously. "Maybe she'll say yes."
Arizona rolled her eyes. "Calliope Torres," she began, reaching out for Callie's hand. "Will you do me the honour of being my first ever prom date?"
Callie grinned. "Of course I will, sweetheart. Who else would I go with?"