New Year's Eve

Arizona looked around the living room of their apartment at all of her friends and coworkers and locked eyes with Callie. Tonight they were celebrating their first New Year's Eve together as a couple, and Arizona could not have been any happier. She made her way over to the brunette and wrapped her arms around the taller woman. Callie instantly reciprocated, and as she wrapped her arms around the blonde, the countdown to midnight began—ten exciting seconds.

"Quick! Get the champagne!" someone called out, which prompted Karev to run around the room and hand champagne flutes to everyone. Arizona relaxed into Callie's arms and felt them tighten around her. She smiled as she joined the others to count in the new year.

"TEN"

"NINE"

"EIGHT"

"SEVEN"

"SIX"

"FIVE"

"FOUR"

"THREE"

"TWO"

"ONE"

As the group called out the last number, Callie spun Arizona around in her arms to where the blonde was facing her and kissed her softly as the giant ball of light dropped on the screen, and the clock struck midnight.

"Happy New Year, Calliope," Arizona said with a big smile. Callie smiled in return and pulled her in for another kiss. Somewhere amidst the group, a flash of light accompanied by a click captured the moment their lips touched, and the group cheered. Soon afterward, they said goodbye to their friends and led them to the door, hoping to clear the apartment. Arizona then took Callie by the hand and led them to their bed, desperately needing to sleep off the insane amount of alcohol they had consumed that night.

New Year's Day

The following day, a stream of sunlight peeked through Callie and Arizona's bedroom window curtains. Arizona opened one eye and groaned. The room was too bright for her liking, and her head was pounding from the alcohol she had consumed the night before. The blonde opened her other eye, overtaken with a sudden wave of nausea, and bolted to the bathroom. She had barely made it to the toilet in time before she felt a burn in the back of her throat and threw up the contents of her stomach. After she finally felt like she had finished, Arizona stood up and went to the sink, where she brushed her teeth and cleaned herself up. Hangovers were always brutal to her, but this one was extreme. She figured she deserved it because who in their right mind takes nine shots in a row and follows it up with MANY glasses of wine and champagne?

Walking into the living room, Arizona took in the damage she, Callie, and their friends had created. Due to the large volume of alcohol she had consumed, the previous night's events were a bit blurry. By the looks of things, it looked like one hell of a party. Plastic champagne flutes, empty beer bottles, and red solo cups littered the apartment floor, as well as large amounts of confetti and what appeared to be glitter.

As Arizona approached the couch, someone groaned and startled the blonde. She let out a yelp, and the mystery person sat up quickly and gave Arizona a panicked look. It was Cristina Yang. Arizona, no longer startled, walked around the couch and took in the scene before her. Cristina and Meredith must have been too drunk to leave the apartment last night because they had spent the night on Callie and Arizona's couch, unbeknownst to the couple. Cristina shook Meredith awake and stood up to collect her things.

"Sorry, Arizona, I don't remember falling asleep," Cristina hurriedly stated as she ushered Meredith to gather her things. Still drunk, Meredith grabbed her heels from their place on the floor and didn't bother to put them on before she grabbed Cristina's hand and led her out the apartment door and down the stairs to the lobby.

Arizona, completely unfazed, decided that she should begin the long process of cleaning the disaster zone that their apartment had become. She tiptoed towards the kitchen to get a large garbage bag for collecting all the trash scattered around the floor. Once she had the garbage bag secured, she quietly made her way back to the living room. As far as she knew, Callie was still sleeping in their bedroom, oblivious to anything. One thing that Arizona loved (and also hated sometimes) was Callie's ability to sleep no matter what was happening around her. There could be an explosion down the hall, and that girl would sleep through it.

The blonde started with empty beer bottles, cups, and flutes. Those would be the easiest to mark off the list. The hardest would be all the confetti and glitter that Arizona did not want to consider. Instead, she bent down and picked up two solo cups next to the TV stand when she noticed a few Polaroids on the ground. She picked them up, examined them, and a smile appeared on her lips. The Polaroids were from the night before. Someone must have brought a camera to the party and taken pictures of everyone. The Polaroids in question were of Arizona and Callie and a kiss they shared right as the clock struck midnight. Arizona could make out how Callie smiled into the kiss, which melted her heart. She loved to see the brunette so happy. These pictures were definitely going to be displayed in their apartment.

As the blonde went to stand back up, her eyes glanced over at the overturned candle that typically sits perfectly on the TV stand. She followed the trail of wax from the candle down to the floor with her eyes and realized that someone must have knocked it over during the party. They were all very intoxicated, so she wasn't surprised that there had been an accidental spill, but she was irritated because that candle was Callie's favorite. It was a cinnamon spice Yankee Candle that she had bought when Arizona moved in with her. Callie said the smell made her think about how the blonde prefers a pinch of cinnamon in her coffee, which Callie adored but would never understand. One thing about the brunette was that she loved her candles, and NO ONE was allowed to touch her candles, especially this one. Once, Arizona attempted to light it, hoping to make the apartment smell nice before they had company, and Callie almost lost it. That is one thing that the blonde will never try again. Returning the candle to its upright position, Arizona put the lid on it and decided to table that conversation for later when Callie was in a good mood.

Continuing to pick up the apartment, Arizona reflected on the past year. It had been one of the best years that she could remember. First, she got her job at Seattle Grace, which was so exciting. Of course, it came with some issues at first, as all new jobs do. Miranda Bailey HATED her from the moment she walked through the hospital doors, or well, rather skated through the doors. Bailey thought it was unprofessional that Arizona wore shoes with skates because this was a hospital, and they were doctors. But to Arizona, it was necessary. It was the one consistent thing she had in her life, no matter where her father's position in the army took them. Also, it seemed to help her connect with the children, which was necessary to gain their trust before she operated on them. Now, Bailey has softened and enjoys speaking to the blonde. It helps that her personality was so bright and bubbly that it rubbed off on anyone in a ten-foot radius.

The next major thing to happen to her that year was Callie. The night Arizona introduced herself, she had found Callie crying in the bathroom of Joe's bar. Arizona had certainly noticed Callie at the hospital; who wouldn't? A tall, gorgeous brunette with the most beautiful brown eyes that could sweep a person off their feet. And she was so skilled in the OR that it took Arizona's breath away to watch her work her orthopedic magic. After they shared their first kiss in that bathroom, they both couldn't stop thinking about the other. Callie had come up to her later that week and asked her out, which the blonde turned down. She didn't want to make herself seem too available, but watching Callie's face fall practically felt like a knife to Arizona's heart. As Arizona was leaving the hospital the same night, she asked Callie out while they were on the same elevator. The brunette brushed it off, said she would have to check her schedule, and went to leave, but two seconds later, she rushed back and said yes. The rest was history.

Arizona had no intentions of letting Callie go anytime soon because this past year had made her realize that the brunette was THE ONE for her. She could picture their future together, and it was full of love. There would be a wedding, maybe one or two kids (even though Arizona wasn't very keen on that idea), and a lifetime full of good memories. The blonde wouldn't have it any other way. Of course, they also had a few hardships over the past year. When Callie came out to her family, they completely cut her off, and her father, Carlos, tried to force her to return home. Arizona was in awe of Callie's strength and resilience during that time. Carlos was not an easy man to speak to, and when it came to Callie, he always tried to act in Callie's best interest, but it was his version of that. While Carlos was in Seattle, Arizona spoke to him briefly, and she will never forget the words she said. She had told Carlos about when she came out to her family and about her dad, who bent his beliefs for her. The blonde also mentioned that her father had asked her if she was still the same person he had raised her to be and if she was a good man in a storm, to which Arizona replied yes, she was a good man in a storm, and still is. Carlos ended up leaving Seattle and letting Callie stay there. Arizona believed that her talk with Carlos helped the man gain some understanding, and for that, Callie was grateful.

Letting the moment fade, Arizona focused her attention back on the apartment and its messy status. After about twenty minutes of cleaning and organizing, she heard the soft pad of bare feet walking across the wooden floor of the apartment and looked up to find a sleepy brunette squinting down at her.

"Hey you," Arizona said with a soft smile. She noticed that Callie wore an oversized t-shirt and a pair of pink underwear, completely forgoing pants, which was pretty hot. Callie grunted something in response that Arizona couldn't quite make out and flopped down on the couch, closing her eyes. The blonde turned around and knelt on the ground in front of the couch, giving Callie a quick peck on the lips as she did so. A small smile spread across Callie's face as she registered the kiss and opened one eye. This caused Arizona to giggle, which made Callie wince from the noise.

"Too loud," she mumbled. Apparently, she had consumed a fair amount of alcohol herself. The blonde got up from her position and went to the bathroom to get some Tylenol from the medicine cabinet, then went into the kitchen and filled a glass with tap water. She took the items back to the couch and handed them to Callie.

"Here, take this," Arizona said softly, trying not to make the pounding in the brunette's head any worse.

After Callie had taken the Tylenol and sipped on the water, she stood up and grabbed the garbage bag that Arizona had abandoned. Arizona opened her mouth to protest as Callie began to help with the clean-up duties, but the brunette gave her a pointed look.

"I'm not letting you clean this place by yourself, Arizona. We will get done faster if I help out," she stated, turning back to the empty bottles in front of her.

"Okay," Arizona said, not wanting to start anything.

"Arizona..." Callie started, with confusion in her voice. "How did we manage to bring the party home last night? Didn't we start off the night at Joe's bar?" she asked, trying to recall the events from last night.

"Callie, you don't remember?" Arizona replied. Maybe Callie did drink way more than she did. The brunette shook her head and furrowed her eyebrows in response as she tried to remember the fuzzy details. "You invited them over to Cal. The bar started getting super packed around 11:00 pm, and you suggested we bring the party back to our place. It was me, you, Yang, Grey, Derek, Karev, Bailey, and Mark. Are you sure that you don't remember?" Arizona said, looking at Callie with concern.

"Oh wait, yeah, I think I remember some of that. Didn't we have someone drive us home?" Callie replied as the memories started to surface.

"Yeah, I called for a taxi because we were in no condition to drive. When the taxi got to the bar, I helped you get in so you didn't fall, and then I got in. I knew that you were at least ten shots in because you didn't speak the whole ride home, and I just wrapped my arms around you so you could lean into me, and you dozed off," Arizona said with a small smile. Drunk Callie always wanted to be wrapped up in Arizona's arms no matter where they were, and the blonde found it absolutely adorable. Callie began to blush and looked at Arizona.

"I love you," she said, looking down at the floor to hide the blush spreading through her cheeks.

"I know," Arizona replied with a smirk.

Callie reflected on her life over the past year as she moved on to cleaning up the kitchen. At the beginning of the year, she was in an okay place. Nothing was necessarily notable, but then she met Erica Hahn, and things changed. Erica hurt Callie in so many ways that Callie closed herself off when Erica left. If people could hurt her that badly, she didn't want to find love anymore. She had started to open up again after George cheated on her, and they divorced, and along came Erica, who undid everything Callie had worked so hard on.

So one night at Joe's, after a hard day of work, Callie was reminded of how alone she felt during a conversation with Lexie and excused herself to the bathroom. The tears that were welling up in her eyes started to fall as soon as she entered the dirty bar bathroom, and the brunette just let them fall, too tired to care anymore. That's when the door to the bathroom opened, and this breathtaking blonde was standing there. She started to talk and introduced herself as Arizona Robbins, and the rest was history. Callie thought about how the events that led up to that moment had to happen for them to meet. They probably would have eventually spoken at work, but would Arizona have kissed her when she needed it the most? Would they be together right now? Maybe, but maybe not, and right now, at this moment, she has never felt as happy or as loved as she does currently. Arizona is HER ONE, and Callie is sure of that because trying to picture a life without the energetic and bubbly blonde was impossible. Callie walked back into the living room and wrapped her arms around Arizona from behind. The blonde hummed in response and closed her eyes, relaxing into Callie's arms.

"Arizona," Callie whispered into the shorter woman's ear. "I want to spend many more New Year's Eves with you. I want Valentine's Days, Fourth of Julys, Halloweens, Thanksgivings, I want all of it and everything in between. I want you," Callie finished as she turned Arizona around and made eye contact with the pools of blue that she loved so much. Arizona looked back into the beautiful brown eyes that made her feel so safe, so loved, and she smiled.

"I want all of that too," she replied as she leaned in so their foreheads made contact, never leaving Callie's embrace. They both closed their eyes and just existed together at that moment, taking in the love and emotion that was running so high.

Arizona let her thoughts wander to her New Year's resolution and realized she hadn't made one yet. At that moment, she decided that her resolution would be to make many more memories with Callie that year. The love in her heart swelled to such an intoxicating level that Arizona felt it could kill her.

"Callie…" the blonde started as she looked back into the deep brown eyes that loved her dearly. "Promise me that you will never leave me. Promise me because I don't think I can live in a world where we aren't together." she finished as her eyes welled with tears, threatening to spill over and stain her face. Callie had no idea where this was coming from, but she understood. She couldn't live in a world like that either.

"I promise you, Arizona," the brunette replied with a voice full of emotion. Arizona smiled, feeling relieved that Callie had no intention of leaving her. "Promise me that too," Callie said quickly, caught up in the thick emotions surrounding them. Arizona looked lovingly into Callie's eyes as the tears began to fall from her eyes.

"I promise I will never leave you, Cal," Arizona replied.

Callie giggled, trying to break the moment's seriousness, and wiped away Arizona's tears. The taller woman kissed the blonde's forehead and pulled her in for a hug. Callie looked around the living room and finally noticed the enormous amount of confetti and glitter on the floor.

"Arizona, what in the world did we do at our party last night?" she said as she pointed at the floor. Arizona looked down and giggled.

"I have absolutely no clue," she replied. "Speaking of last night, did you know Cristina and Meredith slept on our couch?" Arizona questioned. That was the one thing that she still couldn't figure out.

"No, I had no idea," Callie responded. "That is super weird, though. Why didn't they call a taxi?" the brunette inquired.

"I don't know, but when I woke up and came in here, they gathered all their things and hurried out the door. Meredith didn't even take time to put her shoes on, so she was probably walking around in the lobby with her shoes in her hands," Arizona said with a chuckle. Callie shook her head and laughed.

"Sounds like something Yang and Grey would do."

As the couple finished cleaning the apartment, Arizona remembered the spilled candle and realized now was the time to tell Callie. She mentally prepared herself for various reactions and grabbed the brunette's hand.

"Cal, I have some bad news," she said, trying to gauge how this was going to go. Callie raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow at the blonde, and the words that left her mouth shocked Arizona.

"Is it about my candle? If it is, I already cleaned it up," the brunette said as she shrugged. She had been waiting for Arizona to bring it up all morning. Usually, she would have flipped out because that candle had sentimental value to her. It was the first candle she had bought for their shared apartment, and the cinnamon spice scent reminded her of Arizona's little quirk about cinnamon in her coffee. But riding the high of spending her first New Year's Eve with her amazing girlfriend, she wasn't bothered. Arizona paused, looked at Callie, and tried to sense her emotions about it.

"You knew already?" she replied cautiously. The taller woman smirked.

"Arizona, it was pretty hard not to notice," she said calmly.

"Oh." was all Arizona could think of to say back.

"It's fine, Arizona. Accidents happen. Plus, it's a popular scent, so I can always get another one," Callie said reassuringly. It wasn't a big deal. Arizona was so proud of Callie at that moment. Callie wasn't pissed about the candle, and Arizona knew that was significant.

Later that night, as the pair got ready for bed, Callie kept giving Arizona a weird look.

"What?" the blonde asked, trying to figure out why Callie was staring at her.

"Well, since you asked, I have something for you," the brunette replied. A puzzled look appeared on Arizona's face, not knowing what Callie was talking about. "Just go with it," Callie said, knowing that Arizona's curiosity sometimes got the better of her. The taller woman turned around, opened the top drawer of her dresser, retrieved a carefully wrapped box, and walked over, handing it to Arizona.

"Open it," she said with a giant grin. Arizona, still confused, slowly unwrapped the box and removed the lid. Inside was a picture frame containing a single Polaroid of the couple sharing a kiss as the clock struck midnight the night before. The Polaroid had the words "the first of many New Years together" written on it and the date. The blonde's eyes started to well up with tears as she realized that Callie had seen the Polaroids from earlier and had grabbed one to make this. She carefully sat the frame down on the bed and walked over to the brunette, enveloping her in a hug. Arizona buried her face into the crook of Callie's neck and started crying, overwhelmed by the amount of love in her heart. The taller woman wrapped her arms around Arizona and kissed the top of her golden hair.

"I love you, Arizona, now and forever," she said as she rubbed soothing circles on the shorter woman's back.

"I love you too, Calliope," the blonde replied in a soft whisper.