Arizona Robbins knew something was off before her eyes opened. As she laid on her left side, she felt a leg that hadn't been there in years attached to her thigh. She could feel a foot that should no longer be there pressing against the cool sheets. The scent of lavender from the dryer sheets that Callie always bought was lingering all around her.
She opened her eyes to take in the bedroom in an apartment that hadn't belonged to her - or the woman she suddenly noticed in her bed - longer than she cared to remember. Everything looked the way it should have. The way it had when she had been blissfully happy with the person a foot and a half from her.
Shutting her eyes again, Arizona tried to figure out what was going on. Her leg was back; the cool metal against her finger told her that her wedding ring was back on her finger; Callie was asleep beside her.
She looked at Callie's sleeping face. Her hair fell across her cheek and obscured her jaw. It was much longer than when she saw it the day before when she stopped to have dinner with Callie and Sofia. Her face was without some of the worry lines that Callie had gotten over the last few years when both of them had done so much worrying. Back in New York, where she had gone to bed last night, they had apartments across the hall from each other. It made her feel too much like Mark Sloan, but it was easier with Sofia so she managed. At least Penny and Callie were over, so she didn't have to see the resident who got caught in the crossfire.
She tried to remember what she could remember. Her, Callie, and Sofia's future she could see. The loss of her leg in the plane crash, the anger and pain, cheating on her wife, the miscarriage, the divorce, the custody battle, moving to New York was all there. All clear enough in her mind. She could remember Lexie was killed shortly after the crash and Mark died a short time later, remember that Derek, Cristina and Meredith survived it. But the details of their lives were missing. She couldn't remember the choice Alex made to stay or go. The only detail that felt like it wasn't related directly to her, Callie or Sofia she could remember was Nick was going to die.
"Why are we back in our old apartment in Seattle?"
Arizona's eyes opened again when she heard the sound of Callie's voice. She didn't sound upset or even scared. Arizona knew the tone of her voice when she was, she had gotten so used to hearing it post crash that it was burned in her brain.
"I don't know, Calliope," Arizona answered. "When I woke up, I was laying here, and so were you."
"I should be freaked out by all this. I don't know why I'm not," Callie said before rolling from her back to her side to face Arizona fully. She reached out to tuck a loose piece of hair behind Arizona's ear with a soft smile.
"I'm not either," Arizona whispered. She closed her eyes at the touch of Callie's hand against her jaw. "I woke up to the smell of lavender from the dryer sheets and my leg attached and all of these horrible things we did to each other in the future in my head. But all I can think is how good it feels to lay in this bed with you with a ring on my finger and one on yours."
"Yeah," Callie said. "Maybe we're dreaming. Maybe we shared one too many glasses of wine last night and are passed out together on the couch in my living room with Sofia sleeping just down the hall."
"I don't think so." Arizona shook her head. She took a chance and slid just a little bit closer to Callie. It had been so long since she had been wrapped up in her arms that she almost felt itchy at the thought of going back longer without. "I don't know how but I don't think it's a dream."
"No, I don't think it is either." Callie shook her head. She moved a few inches closer to Arizona when she saw Arizona inch herself toward her.
"We should talk," Arizona said when she was just and inch or two from being totally inside of Callie's personal space. "About the future and how we're going to play this. If we leave this room then people are going to expect us to be us, right?"
"We should talk," Callie agreed. She lifted her arm and the covers with it to give Arizona space to curl up against her if she wanted to take it.
"Thank you," Arizona sent her a dimpled smile before moving into Callie's arms. Their legs tangled and their bodies pressed together in a way that was never quite as comfortable with anyone else.
"Back in New York," Callie started. "Arizona we've gotten to a place where we were flirting again." She pressed a kiss to the top of Arizona's head without overthinking it. "I tried to crush down how in love with you I was to protect myself. But in the end you can't hide being in love."
"I knew how you felt once we were living across from each other," Arizona admitted. "It's hard to hide being in love with your ex-wife when you're co-parenting from eight feet between your front doors."
"It is," Callie agreed. "So, being back here, having rings on, the world expecting us to be an us? I'm in, Arizona." She rubbed over Arizona's back as she spoke. "We have a lot of things to talk about to figure out how we act when the front door is shut, but I want to go to bed tonight in this bed with you. Not one of us on the couch or a hotel or somewhere the other isn't."
"Me too," Arizona said. It was muffled slightly because she was pressing her forehead against Callie's collarbone and speaking against the top of her breast. She lifted her head to look into Callie's brown eyes. "I find you miraculous, have I ever told you that?"
"Not using that word." Callie shook her head. "But you made me feel like that a lot over the years. You kept making me feel like that in little ways even when things were rough."
"I said it to Lexie once. I told her I found you miraculous," Arizona said. She lifted her hand to stroke the pads of her fingers over Callie's jaw. "You were laying in the hospital room I stuck you in when you had the chicken pox and Mark was rubbing you to try and get the itching to go down."
"I remember you getting in the hospital bed with me," Callie smiled. "One of the very few times you were the big spoon."
"I'm a much better little spoon with you," Arizona conceded. "Also, I may have had the chicken pox before." She winced as she admitted the first lie she ever told Callie.
Callie raised an eyebrow at the news. "And yet you stuck me with Little Grey all day?"
"It feels very silly after a decade plus, but at the time it felt important to keep the sexy alive. Things were still new and sexy between us. The kind of sexy where pox and fevers and itching didn't live," Arizona sighed. "I panicked and then I saw you in bed with Mark and I thought maybe the sexy didn't matter as much as making you feel better."
Callie rolled her eyes because it was so very Arizona. "I think I can find it in myself to forgive you for lying about having chicken pox," she said seriously but with a smile to soften the tone. She leaned in to press a kiss to Arizona's cheek as her hand slid under her shirt to spread over the small of Arizona's back.
"We have a lot more difficult topics to go over. I'd be worried if you couldn't," Arizona said as a smile came to her lips. "I love how your hands feel against my skin. I always have."
Callie bent her head again to press her lips to Arizona's shoulder were her shirt had shifted to give her access. "I don't even know if we're supposed to work today. All I want is to be here with you so we can figure it all out."
Arizona rolled away from Callie so she could grab her phone and check the calendar. "According to my phone, Mark has Sofia, and we're both off today," she said as she looked up at Callie with a double dimpled grin.
Callie reached out for Arizona as Arizona moved back toward Callie. Each moment the pair weren't wrapped in each other's arms felt like a moment wasted right now. As they came back together, Callie reached down to press her hand to Arizona's left thigh and then worked down.
"I have my leg back." Arizona's voice was a bare whisper. "I don't know how to have two legs anymore."
"You'll figure it out," Callie said. She leaned in to press a kiss against Arizona's forehead. "It makes sense you do if it's before the crash."
"We have so much to talk about today but I need to say this now." Arizona looked up so she could look into Callie's eyes as she said this. "Thank you for saving my life. You kept me alive even if you thought I might hate you and then I proved you right or at least acted like I did. But Calliope, you did the right thing."
They hadn't kissed yet, but that was a tipping point that Callie couldn't stop. She leaned forward to press their lips together in the first kiss they shared since the night before Callie told Arizona she wanted a divorce. It broke when both were smiling too wide to keep kissing each other.
"I put you through hell," Arizona said with a ragged breath. She shifted deeper into Callie's arms. "All you did was save my life and I put you through hell for it."
"I put you through hell too," Callie said as she shook her head. "The custody battle was the lowest thing I've done in my life."
"I think the custody battle was worst than being in the woods," Arizona admitted without looking Callie in the eye. "It felt like I was dying, but there was no chance I would. In both cases, I just wanted the pain to stop. In both cases, I survived and wasn't sure I wanted to."
"I should have forced you to go to therapy," Callie said as their foreheads pressed together. "I should have forced myself to go to therapy."
"I broke, then you broke, and then we kept trying to break each other so the pieces fit back together," Arizona said against Callie's collarbone.
"Communication has always been our downfall," Callie said as her thumb stroked over Arizona's skin on her lower back.
"We've gotten better," Arizona said. "In New York we were doing really well. The flirting was nice; the talks on your couch after Sofia went to sleep; the Sunday mornings when you two would come over to my place for breakfast. We learned how to hear each other in those moments and not just hear what we wanted the other to say."
"Or what we feared they'd say," Callie added.
Arizona shifted a bit and heard her back given a pleasant pop. "Do you think we could maybe go make some coffee before we talk everything out? And maybe see if there are any donuts?"
"Sofia gets her sweet tooth from you, you know?" Callie said, not being able to help her teasing.
"Guilty," Arizona smiled as she threw the covers off of her legs and turned to dangle her legs off the edge of the bed. She didn't get up though. She just looked down at her legs, and tried to remember what it felt like to have them both.
Callie came around the bed, but didn't step right in front of Arizona. Her arms were down at her side as she waited to see what she would do before doing anything herself. She had stood in this same stop countless times when Arizona was figuring out how to get out of bed without help or adjusting her prosthetic. It felt different this time.
"Can I have your hand?" Arizona said as she looked over at Callie. "It's silly, but I'm nervous about this and I'd really like your help."
Callie's brown eyes lit up at just hearing Arizona so freely tell her she wanted her help. She felt right in feeling like this was not anything like the last time they stood in this bedroom together. She moved to give Arizona her right hand; her left arm ready to be there to support Arizona if she needed it.
"On three?" Arizona said.
"One."
"Two."
"Three."
Arizona held tight to Callie's hand as she stood up. Her legs held her up as if the years of figuring out how to learn to walk, the pain in her thigh, the countless hours of rubbing and putting on ice packs, and all the rest of it never happened.
"That feels anti-climatic," Arizona said. She looked down at her legs before looking up at Callie.
"I think anti-climatic feels pretty good after everything we've been through." Callie wrapped her left arm around Arizona even if she didn't need the support just to get closer to her.
Arizona left go of Callie's hand, so she could reach her hand up to rest it on the back of Callie's neck. She smiled as she looked into Callie's eyes while standing in their bedroom in her arms. There was something about this moment that settled her bones in a way that felt anything but anti-climatic.
"I tried for years to not be in love with you." Arizona spoke softly to not spell she felt they were under. "I stand in your arms for thirty seconds and all the locked doors I hid it behind are wide open."
"I was in love with you even when it set my teeth on fire," Callie admitted. "Holding you like this makes it feels better than I know how to say."
Arizona leaned forward to press a quick kiss to Callie's lips. Anything more than a quick kiss would lead them back to bed and right now she really want a cup of coffee and to figure out some form of a plan. "Come on, let's see if we still remember how to make each other coffee."
Hand in hand they walked out of the bedroom to the kitchen with matching smiles on their faces. It felt so easy to them to just be with each other here. So much was left to talk about and uncover but that was for after coffee.
Arizona made Callie's coffee, a half spoon of sugar and a splash of milk, while Callie made Arizona's, a little half and half and no sugar, before they moved to the couch. Callie sat in the middle with Arizona's legs draped over her lap. She rested her left forearm across them, rubbing over Arizona's left leg reverently. For a few minutes they did nothing but sit there and sip their coffee. Arizona was focused on the way Callie's hand was touching a leg made of flesh and bone and Callie was focus on how good it felt to be touching Arizona at all.
"I'm scared to see Mark," Arizona admitted, breaking the quiet of the moment.
"Me too," Callie said as she turned her head to look over at Arizona.
"I regret a lot of things but top five is not being there to hold your hand and his when he died," Arizona whispered. "He was my brother. By now, he's become my brother. A little annoying, a lot of teasing, but so much love and trust between he and I now."
"He loves you." Callie switched her coffee to the hand that had been on Arizona's leg so she could take her hand instead. "I know your dream wasn't babies or babies with Mark but at this point, things worked pretty well."
"Mark would have kicked our asses if he had been alive," Arizona managed to say with a half smile. "Some days when I was all alone here I swear I could hear him yelling at me to stop being such a bitch. Some days I swear I felt him laying next to me on the bed just stroking my hair. Some days I would swear on a stack of bibles I smelled his aftershave coming into the living room."
"I had feelings like that," Callie nodded. "There would be nights I'd be standing at the sink and I could feel his arms around my waist. Or I would be trying to get Sofia to settle down and I could feel him telling me how to do it. Or hear his terrible sex puns when I was sitting on the couch not watching TV."
"He loved his sex puns," Arizona agreed.
"You know I was never in love with him, right?" Callie asked. "I loved him, so much, but it was never more than sex and being friends. He wasn't a threat in a way you sometimes thought he was."
"Now? Yes, I know that. And I'm sorry for treating you like a bad lesbian at times," Arizona said as she laced their fingers together. "You aren't a lesbian and I should have gotten over the fact you like more than women. At least you didn't make out with Owen."
Callie nearly choked on her coffee. "What?"
"I was having a thing with Carina, Andrew DeLuca's sister, nothing official at the time, and Andrew and I looked through a supply closet door and she and Owen were making out," Arizona said with a groan.
"Wow," Callie said stunned. "Did that put the nail in the coffin?"
Arizona shook her head. Sitting here with Callie she felt a lot less stressed about talking about ex's or people they were with when they weren't with each other than she had ever before. "I was with her officially for months. We didn't break up until the night I called you to tell you Sofia and I were coming to New York."
"Did you love her?" Callie asked without judgement in her voice.
"I started to," Arizona nodded. "But I knew deep in my heart she was a substitute for who I wanted to be with. She was tall, dark hair and would speak very fast in a romance language when stressed or excited. She was like using vinegar and skim milk when you don't have buttermilk. Close, so close some people can't tell the difference. But if you can, it's never just right."
"I'm your buttermilk?" Callie laughed.
"You're my buttermilk," Arizona confirmed. "I was happy with it until Sofia made it clear that us being on the other side of the country from each other wouldn't work. And then it was painfully easy. I hated hurting her but the choice was between my daughter and the woman I love vs the woman I could love if I tried. No contest."
"I wanted to be happy with Penny. But it was so much like George that some days I would close my eyes standing in the shower, and I felt like I was right back in residency myself." Callie brought their joined hands up to press a kiss to Arizona's knuckles. "She was like having a bell pepper after having Habanero for years. Easy but the fire was missing."
"So, I'm your Habanero?" Arizona asked with a smile.
"You're my Habanero," Callie agreed.
Arizona smiled behind her coffee cup before sitting it back in her lap. "I don't know why we're here, or how we're here. But I don't know if I've ever been more thankful for something I can't explain."
"Me too," Callie said. "I'm just really glad we didn't go to a time when Sofia wasn't born," she added as she looked around at all of Sofia's around them.
"We didn't handle the kids conversation very well the first time we had it, or the second through hundred time we had it. But being her mama? Calliope, it's one of the great privileges I've ever had," Arizona said through a wave of happy tears.
"I begged you for children and fought with you over it like if we didn't decide right then it would never happen. And then I asked you if you were in with Sofia when she came along after Mark and my sexual sorbet," Callie sighed in disappointment of what she did. "You were in from the first time we heard her heart beat. You made her heart beat after she was born. Arizona, you made our little girls heart beat."
"It was the most scared I've ever been in an OR," Arizona admitted. "You were laying on the table flatlining and Fields and Alex couldn't get her heart going. I looked at you for a second and then Mark nodded it was alright for me to take over. I did what I had to do to get our girl to be alright."
"You were right," Callie whispered. "I heard about the fight you and Mark had over what I would have wanted. You were right. If I woke up and …" She trailed off before shaking her head. "You were right and he was out of line. So far out of line and I let him be out of line for a long time."
"Things got better for us. Things got so much better," Arizona leaned forward to kiss Callie. It started as a simple kiss and then grew deeper. She brought her hand to the back of Callie's neck to tug her a bit closer before the kiss broke. "This year, between our wedding and the crash was one of the best years of my life. I hope we can top it now that we're back."
"You do like to top…" Callie's sentence was cut off with another kiss.
"If we start talking about sex, I am going to jump you. And with all the things we want to say and do today, we need to save that for tonight," Arizona said against Callie's lips. "But tonight; pizza, beer, and bed?"
"Pizza, beer, and bed," Callie agreed. She leaned forward to kiss Arizona for a minute more before pulling back.
Arizona leaned back against the arm of the couch as she tried to keep herself from leaning forward to kiss Callie again. "Do you think the things that happened, will again?"
Callie's hand slid back to rest on Arizona's left calf. "I don't know, Arizona," She answered honestly. "I don't even know where you and I will wake up tomorrow."
Arizona flexed her left foot as she thought about what it would be like to go through all of the long journey they both remembered. "We should call your father and ask him if the hospital can use one of the Torres company jets to go fly in. I'm sure there will be a way for him to get a tax write off or something."
"That's not a bad idea," Callie agreed. "I really hope we can change what happened. When you said we had a chance to do things right and missed it, that extended far longer than just over Sofia."
"I am never going to hurt you the way I did," Arizona said before clenching her jaw a she thought about Boswell and then Murphy. "I promise that."
"What was it about Boswell that lead you down that road?" Callie asked without any of the vile that she usually reserved for her name.
"She looked at me the way you looked at me before I lost my leg except she knew I only had one leg," Arizona explained as she shook her head at her own actions. "She looked at me the way you did when we first got together before everything. I wasn't her wife who she had to help get in and out of bed or help to the bathroom. I wasn't the woman who asked her to marry me and then drove into the back of a truck. I wasn't the woman who broke up with her over having kids. She was nobody and there was so much freedom in that moment."
"I thought the most pain I could feel was when George cheated. Then you did," Callie whispered. She moved her hand into Arizona's and gave it a soft squeeze. "I was so angry, Arizona. It felt like I failed after we came so close to walking out of hell hand in hand. But it wasn't something you would do normally. It took years of pain and nightmares and being in hell to get you there."
"I would go through the pain I was in for the four days in the woods all over again for a month if I could have taken back what I did that night about five seconds after it was over," Arizona said as she held tight to Callie's hand and took it as a sign that maybe this time their talk wouldn't end in a fight.
"I don't like when you're in pain," Callie shook her head. "This body that you're in right now hasn't cheated on me. If we stay here, if you and I don't wake up tomorrow in college or something, we should accept that this body hasn't cheated and finally lay the topic six feet under."
"That is more than I deserve," Arizona said.
"Sofia deserves two happy moms," Callie said simply.
"You are miraculous," Arizona said. All she could do was smile at Callie at the gift she just gave the two of them.
"A little selfish too, but I'll take being miraculous," Callie smiled.
"I'm not who I was when I laid in this couch with you. I'm different than I was then in ways I can't find words for. But I'm a lot closer to her than who I'll be after the plane goes down. I'm happy again. I smile all the way to my eyes again. It shouldn't be too hard anymore to convince people here I'm not some monster in an Arizona costume," Arizona said. They had to figure out how to go into work tomorrow and not have all their friends think they needed to be committed.
Callie nodded in understanding of the journey they both needed to take. She rested her head against the back of the couch of as she spoke. "It's going to take some adjustment to re-learn to be the Callie that the people of Seattle Grace Mercy West know. But having you knowing what's going on will help."
"We're going to have to share Sofia," Arizona said. "It's been a long time since the two of us had anyone but each other to decide what to do when it comes to her. We are going to not run over Mark when things between us should be pretty stable right now."
"I thought a million times about what Mark would've said about different things over the years with her," Callie said. "How he would have reacted to lost teeth and Christmas morning and teaching her how to ride a bike."
"I didn't want a child with him," Arizona said as she looked down at their joined hands. "But between how he was after we got married, after the woods, if I had to pick someone who you slept with to get pregnant out of all the men we know, it would be him. And past me is really annoyed by that," she said with a snort.
"I wish I hadn't, but I also don't because then we wouldn't have Sofia," Callie sighed. "I can't wish to change it, because we wouldn't have her, and she is worth all the pain."
"She is," Arizona agreed. "He'll be a good dad."
"He will. He is," Callie nodded.
"I hope he and Lexie figure things out," Arizona said before she set her coffee cup on the floor before taking Callie's to set on the coffee table. "He loves her in a way that is soul deep." She tugged Callie's hand until both were laying down on the couch with very little space between them.
"I hope they do," Callie agreed as she slid her hand back under Arizona's shirt to draw over her lower back with her fingertips. "He deserves to be with the person he loves most."
Arizona smiled softly before leaning in to give Callie a tender kiss. "There is still so much left to talk about, Calliope. I don't even know what else to say about all of the things we did to each other, with each other, to hurt each other."
Callie wrapped her arm tightly around Arizona's waist. "Well," She pondered all of their past mistakes. "The kids thing is settled in terms of having one at least. I'm open to having more and we're younger again so it's more possible."
"I want more babies with you," Arizona agreed. "We'll figure out who carries and all of that later, but can we agree we're not asking Mark even if we both know he'll offer."
"I am not putting Mark Sloan's sperm inside of you," Callie said as she wrinkled her nose at the idea. "You're right though, he'll ask and I think saying thank you but no is best."
"Thank God," Arizona laughed softly at how much on the same page they were. "I love him, but I want to decide things with you and not things for all of the kids that we may have with him."
"He will be a very good uncle to the rest of our children but you're right, as far as being a father that should stay with Sofia," Callie nodded.
"The next big thing is my grant. It took me a long time to not feel hurt about the Carter Maddison thing," she said as they moved to the next stumbling block of their relationship. "We should have talked about it better. I should have let you be unhappy about me never mentioning it. But you made it really hard to enjoy a huge accomplishment."
"I was an ass," Callie agreed. "I was scared if you went to Africa you'd be hurt or killed because you're gay. I was worried I would be if I went with you because I'm bi. I was scared you not telling me you applied to do it meant you weren't as serious as I was about our relationship because it was three years away."
"I didn't think I would win or I would have told you," Arizona said her weak defense. "I should have talked about it. I should have found a way to go for a few months to set it up and oversee it like I did after I left and then came back. I shouldn't have dismissed your fears because they screwed up a plan I made before you were a factor. Before you were the biggest factor."
Callie pressed a kiss to her forehead. "I was a jerk who made you feel bad about winning something anyone in our field would be thrilled to win. I am sorry."
"I am too," Arizona promised. "For assuming and for breaking up with you at the airport."
"We're doing pretty good with this whole open communication thing," Callie said. "But I am getting hungry. Break for some pizza? It's after noon so we can call it an early lunch. I know we said we'd have some tonight, but we both like leftover pizza."
"I missed pizza from the place a few blocks over," Arizona smiled as she rolled off the couch and stood up. She shook her head at how easy the action had been. "It's going to take some time not thinking about compensating," she said before walking into the bedroom to grab her phone.
Callie grabbed the blanket on the back of the couch to through over her legs to keep the slight chill off of herself. She watched as Arizona walked back toward her, a warm smile blooming on her lips.
"Mark sent a video of Sofia and Lexie playing in his apartment with a text asking us to dinner to talk about something serious but not bad," Arizona said as she sat down next to Callie's reclined form.
"You think they came back from wherever they were?" Callie thought out loud.
"Lexie and Mark weren't together yesterday," Arizona pointed out. "Yesterday, Mark had a girlfriend and Lexie had a mess on her hands. Now Little Grey is laying on the floor playing with our daughter in Mark's apartment with a grin the size of Texas on her face."
"How many of the others do you think this happened to?" Callie asked.
"I sent vague texts to Yang and Derek. So we'll see if they reply and if they do reply if they say anything," Arizona said as she bent down to kiss Callie just because she could. "Derek is alive again, so that's good."
Callie shivered as she remembered the events around Derek's death. "I hope it's just Mark, Lexie, you, and me."
"Me too, Calliope," Arizona nodded.
"Order pizza and lay with me again?" Callie asked.
"Pepperoni and mushroom?" Arizona asked.
"You remember," Callie smiled.
"I've ordered us a lot of pizza, Calliope." Arizona bent down to kiss her. She pulled back to make the quick call to their favorite pizza place before tossing her phone on the coffee table and laying back down under the blanket.
"You know one thing I had to adjust to when we started dating I never told you about because of how silly it was?" Callie asked.
"What?" Arizona asked as she cuddled against Callie.
"Being taller, having you be the one to curl up against my chest, all those little things that were a flip from George or Mark or whoever else. It felt so silly but it took some time to figure out how to handle that," Callie admitted.
"I like that you're taller," Arizona pressed a string of light kisses over Callie's jaw. "I've always like how strong you are. It made me feel safe. It still does."
"I like that I make you feel safe." Callie let out a soft groan. Her arm tightened around Arizona's waist as she tilted her head to give more space for Arizona's to work when she moved to kiss her neck.
Arizona was halfway to giving Callie a hickey when there was a knock at the door. "Stay here." She nipped at Callie's neck before going to the door. After paying the pizza guy, she came back with the pizza in hand. "Couch or bed?"
"If we go to bed with pizza we're not doing anything but each other until dinner," Callie pointed out.
"Point, Torres," Arizona admitted. She handed the pizza box to Callie before heading to the kitchen. "Beer or wine?"
"Beer," Callie requested as she sat up and flipped the box open.
Arizona brought two beers back before sitting on the other side of the pizza box. "You want to know something kind of depressing?"
"Sure," Callie picked up a piece of pizza as she answered.
"When the Obergefell decision came down, I almost went looking for you," Arizona admitted as she opened her beer. "We weren't in the best place, and it wouldn't have done us any good, so I never did, but I heard the news after I got out of surgery and all I wanted to do was find you."
"We had to do so many things to compensate, because it wasn't legal when we did it," Callie said as she reached over to put her hand on Arizona's thigh. "I started crying when I heard the news."
"This time around we'll get to celebrate together," Arizona said with a dimpled smile.
"We'll have to figure out how to handle that when the time comes," Callie said. She grabbed a second piece of pizza before ripping the crust off for Arizona, it was her favorite part of the pizza after all.
"Thanks," Arizona said. "I want another wedding, I think. When the time comes and we can do it. I'm sure the domestic partnership converts or can. But I want a wedding again. Sofia will be old enough to really be part of it too."
"She will be the cutest little flower girl," Callie agreed. "And I agree. A wedding without my mother making me doubt everything, and your father planning everything down to the last second."
"You know when I came out to him, Tim asked about my wedding and if it would be to a chick," Arizona said. "He said he'd dance so hard when I told him it would." She shook her head as she looked at the wall a moment before turning back to Callie. "Of all the things he missed in my after he died, him not dancing at my wedding hurts the most. Some days when we were planning it I would dream of my big brother and my wife dancing together."
"I wish I could have met him," Callie said. She moved the pizza box to the coffee table so she and Arizona could cuddle together in the middle of the couch. "You haven't told me a lot about him but what you have told me I like."
"He was tall. Almost six foot five. No one could figure out how he was so tall, but he was. He was strong too. He could throw me over his shoulder like it was nothing even when I was in medical school. And handsome. Brave. Smart," Arizona said. She leaned heavily against Callie as her voice cracked.
"He sounds a lot like you, Arizona," Callie wrapped her arms around her shoulders. "You aren't tall, but you're beautiful and brave and smart."
"He and I got into a fight before his last deployment," Arizona admitted. "I don't even remember what the fight was about but we had one. Which almost never happened with us. Usually we got along. But we were fighting and not talking for a couple weeks. He called me from Germany before he was sent where he wouldn't be able to call for a while. I didn't pick it up. A week later he was dead." She closed her eyes as a few tears escaped. "It's why it hurts to talk about him because the last time I should have told him I loved him, I didn't."
Callie didn't say anything. He just held tight to Arizona as she cried in her arms for the brother she lost and the chance to tell him goodbye that she gave up not knowing it was the last time. She thought a moment of her sister in Miami that she hadn't spoken to in years and wondered if maybe she should reach out to see if there was a chance they could have any sort of relationship at all.
"You know the only good part of you not meeting him?" Arizona sniffled after her crying had slowed.
"What?" Callie asked.
"I didn't have to fight him for you," Arizona managed a weak laugh. "He would have tried. I don't know if he would have been as smooth as me. But he would have fallen for you in a heart beat if he met you before we were serious."
"I was always serious about you, Arizona," Callie said before pressing a kiss to her temple. "You walked into Joe's bathroom and told me you knew things about me, then kissed me and it was like I was caught on fire. I was always serious."
"Ortho right?" Arizona asked. She closed her eyes when Callie used a napkin to dry her eyes.
"You're Arizona Robbins? Peds surgery?" Callie asked, changing their first meeting slightly.
"And you're Calliope Torres." Arizona turned to kiss her firmly. "I skipped some steps there but I remember the kiss. The kiss was important."
"Very important," Callie agreed.
"I'm happy," Arizona whispered. "Being here with you, I am happy."
"In New York, we were remembering how good the two of us can be when we decide to choose each other over everything else again." Callie rested her head against Arizona's. "I think we should date each other again."
"Date?" Arizona asked. "You said you were all in after we woke up? You don't want to be wives?"
"I'm not asking you to take your ring off or not be my wife again," Callie clarified. "I'm asking you to take some time with me and relearn what it means to be together. We could take turns planning dates like we did before Sofia. We're both romantics at heart, right?"
"I'd really like to date you," Arizona smiled at the very idea of it once the panic faded away. "We stopped taking the time after we were married but we didn't have to. And we shouldn't now."
"Should we have rules?" Callie asked. "You like rules."
Arizona just laughed. "How about the rules are you check in with me, I check in with you, we be honest with each other about what's working and what isn't, and we love the hell out of each other?" She suggested.
"I love you, you love me, and none of the rest of it matters?" Callie parroted back one of the things Arizona said that made her fall ever deeper in love with her.
"I love you, you love me, and none of the rest of it matters," Arizona confirmed.
"Glad we settled that," Callie said. "You know how terrible I can be with rules."
Arizona finished her beer before setting the bottle next to Callie's empty one. "Take a bath with me?" She requested. "We don't have to do anything. I just miss doing things like taking a bath with you before crawling into bed and taking a nap. I miss just being close to you without having to have a reason to be other than you're my wife and I'm allowed."
"I'm your wife and you're allowed," Callie confirmed.
"Even if we're dating, I like I can call you my wife again." Arizona stood up before helping Callie to her feet.
"I'm your wife," Callie promised. "Our past is a future we are going to prevent from happening if we can. Or something. Time travel is confusing."
Arizona laughed as she nodded and picked up the pizza box to go put it in the fridge. "I'll clean up here and meet you in the bathroom?" She offered.
"I'll see you in a minute then," Callie smiled before heading into the other room.
When Arizona walked into the bathroom there were candles light and soft music player as Callie laid in the bathtub that both knew from experience could fit the both of them. For a moment, Arizona just stood in the doorway and took in the slight of Callie with her head tilted back and bubbles covering her.
"Candles, music, and bubbles, if I didn't know better I'd think you were trying to seduce me, Calliope," Arizona said as she crossed her arms over her chest.
Callie smiled as her head rolled to the side so she could catch what Arizona looked like in the candlelight. "Maybe I am. Maybe I'm trying to get you naked in this bath with me so I can take advantage of your love of warm water and wet skin."
Arizona smiled and shook her head a little. "You can take advantage of me anytime," she said before pushing herself off the doorframe. She undressed without hesitancy before grabbing a clip to twist her hair up to keep it out of the water. Callie had seen her naked everyday when she looked like this. Why be shy?
"You are the most beautiful woman I've ever seen," Callie said once her eyes were open. "I don't think I remembered how much I liked just looking at you."
"Look all you want," Arizona smiled as she moved to get in the tub. It was big enough for her to sit on one side and Callie on the other with their legs overlapping. The tap was in the middle of the back wall of the tab so neither had it jabbed in their backs.
Callie found one of Arizona's feet under the water and started to give her a slow foot rub. "I plan to. As much as I can, every chance I can."
Arizona tilted her head back and let out a groan as she felt Callie's strong hands against the arch of her foot. "I don't think I'm going to change specialties," she said after a few moments of laying in the warm water and enjoying Callie's strong hands. "I don't remember much about work but I remember the fellowship because of how much we fought over it. The details are so fuzzy though. But I remember just wanting a challenge or anything to make me feel in control. I don't want to do that again. I don't want to need to do that again. I love the work I do now, it was when I was at my happiest professionally."
"Then I support you," Callie promised. "I remember I had projects but I have almost none of the details in my head other than they were related to your leg. The details are all just outside of my memory. So, we both figure out how to find professional happiness this go around in a different way than we did the first time."
Arizona let out a breath at just how easy it all felt. They had spent years not able to understand the points the other was making when it came to big things and now they could. If this was a dream there was a part of Arizona that never wanted to wake up. It was a miracle.
"I wouldn't mind having a house again," Arizona smiled. "Though if you're alright with it, maybe we can build this time? Get just what we want without having to compromise?"
"Compromise isn't our strong suit," Callie laughed as she swapped which foot she was rubbing. "I like the idea of building a house and getting to decide it all. I love this apartment and it being so close to the hospital is great but I remember how nice having space was. And I can finally have the kitchen of my dreams."
"I want an office," Arizona said. "Big enough for the both of us so when we have charts and files to go over we can at least do it at home instead of at the hospital." She smiled at the thought.
"When I was little I would go into my dad's office when he was working late. I'd bring a book or homework and sit on the couch while he was reading reports or whatever he did," Callie told Arizona as the pair sat there smiling at each other. "It was always nice being able to just be in the same room with him even if we didn't say a word."
"We'll get a couch so Sofia can come in when she wants." Arizona smiled at the thought. It was the type of future she could picture so clearly, her and Callie both working while Sofia did her homework on the couch. One or both of them helping her when she had a question. The two of them consulting with each other when they needed a second set of eyes. It was enough to make her ache for that day to come.
"We need to have a big tub like this to soak in after long days," Callie said. "I like being able to soak in a tub with you and just let everything melt away."
After another half hour of soaking in the tube together, the pair rinsed off and then dried each other off. They traded kisses in between giggling at how good it felt to just be around each other after taking a bath.
"I missed the sight of you in that," Callie said after they returned to their bedroom. Arizona had put on an old Miami Dolphins t-shirt she'd had since college.
"Sometimes when I missed you, I'd turn on the Dolphins just to have a reminder," Arizona admitted as she slipped into bed while Callie threw on boy shorts and a tank top. "I didn't always cheer for them to win though."
"You hate football," Callie said as she slid into bed.
"I don't hate football. I just don't understand it," Arizona said. She curled against Callie's chest as their heads rested on the same pillow in the middle of the bed.
"Mark is a Giants fan and I'm a Dolphins fan, so odds are Sofia is going to grow up watching it on Sundays with us," Callie pointed out as her arm protectively wrapped around Arizona's waist. "You might want to pick a team and start learning."
"What team should I pick?" Arizona asked.
"Did your dad watch any football?" Callie asked.
"Just Navy," Arizona shook her head. "I was born at the medical center at Camp Lejeune, so I guess the closest team would be the Carolina Pacers?"
"Panthers," Callie laughed. "The Carolina Panthers."
"Go Panthers," Arizona said before resting her forehead to Callie's collarbone like she liked to do when the two of them were in bed together.
"We have time for a nap before we have to get ready for dinner." Callie set an alarm on her phone before tossing it behind Arizona on the bed. "Close your eyes and I'll close mine."
"What if we don't wake up here?" Arizona asked with a hint of fear in her voice.
"As long as we wake up and remember, I don't care when we wake up. Because that's what matters. Even if we wake up in the middle of our divorce, we'll remember and we'll be alright," Callie said as she held Arizona tighter to her.
"I love you." Arizona lifted her head to look into Callie's eyes as she said it.
"I love you," Callie smiled. "Now close your eyes and rest. I am not going anywhere."
"Promise?" Arizona asked even as she rested her head back down.
"I promise," Callie answered.
The pair napped in each other's arms until Callie's alarm woke them up about an hour before Mark would be over with Lexie and Sofia. Once Callie turned the alarm off, the two cuddled back together in the middle of the bed.
"I missed that," Arizona said in a sleepy voice.
"Me too," Callie agreed. "We're still here, too," She said, glad they hadn't jumped to another point in time after their nap.
"We are," Arizona said as she pulled back to smile at Callie.
"Mark said he was bringing Chinese over, do you want me to text him your usual order?" Callie asked.
"You still remember my order?" Arizona asked.
"Arizona," Callie rolled her eyes. "Shrimp fried rice, two egg rolls and like half of my sweet and sour chicken, right?"
"Got it in one," Arizona said before leaning forward to kiss Callie firmly. "Text Mark, I'm going to figure out what to wear."
"You got it." Callie grabbed her phone once Arizona was out of bed to text her best friend.
A knock came to their front door fifty-seven minutes later. Both women stood dressed in jeans and casual tops in front of the door but neither of them could reach for the handle. They were frozen in place at the idea of seeing Mark and Lexie after all this time. Arizona thinking of the crash and the moments after and Callie thinking of how life fell apart when Mark was gone.
"Torres, open the damn door," Mark called. "It's been too long."
Callie finally stepped forward to unlock the door to let Mark and Lexie in with Sofia. When she stepped back and the door swung open, she felt her breath catch in her lungs at how Mark and Lexie looked like the Mark and Lexie she dreamed back when she was missing them most. "Mark," she whispered, her voice cracking.
Mark passed Sofia to Lexie, the take out bag carefully set to the side, before stepping forward to pull Arizona and Callie into a tight hug. "You two are idiots," he said as he held both women tight to him. "But I have missed you. Both of you." His eyes were damp as he spoke.
"We've missed you too," Callie and Arizona said at the same time, wrapping their arms around him.
"I never thought I'd see you again," Callie cried as she held to one side while Arizona held to the other.
"Me either," Arizona pressed her forehead against his shoulder.
It was a long time before anyone stepped back but when they did, Mark looked sternly at them both. "Whatever happened, wherever I was, I saw things. I saw the way the two of you behaved. I screamed at you both to wake up, to understand what you were doing to each other. It was terrible to not be able to do a damn thing about it."
"Mark," Arizona's voice was rough when she spoke. "Calliope and I have said our peace to each other."
"I haven't said my piece to either of you," Mark said. "Robbins, you first," He decided. "We'll be right back," He grabbed Arizona's hand so he could half drag her to his apartment.
"Mark," Arizona sighed when she stood in his kitchen a moment later. "Is this really necessary?"
"I've been the guy who cheats on the woman he loves," Mark's voice was low. "I've been that guy. I was that guy because I was scared and angry at the world and running from what I really wanted. I'm not that guy anymore. You weren't that guy. But you did it anyway because life fucked you over. And I want you to know if you do it again while I'm still around, I am going to get Lexie to kick your ass, because I don't hit women."
"It was the biggest mistake I ever made," Arizona admitted as she crossed her arms over her chest as she replied. "It was the weakest moment of my life. It was stupid. It ended my marriage just as things had gotten better. I'm not going to do it again. Ever," She said with certainty in her voice.
Mark walked over to her and put his hands on her shoulders. "You bail when things get tough. I do too. You keep me honest and I keep you honest, alright? We're not leaving them again, Robbins. You and me are going to love those two for the next sixty years, you got me?"
"Wouldn't that make you like 100 plus?" Arizona asked when she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Mark's chest.
"Sloan men are very long living," Mark said as his arms moved to wrap around her.
"I never thought I would miss you as much as I did," Arizona admitted as she felt tears fall down her cheeks.
"You and me, we have more in common than we don't. We have great taste in women, we have game for miles, we have great hands in and out of the OR, and we love our people. Lexie and Callie are our people. Sofia is our kid. We're better when we have each other there to keep us honest," Mark said as he hugged her tighter.
"I can't believe how right you are and how annoyed it makes me," Arizona sighed as she tried to dry her tears.
"Send Callie in?" Mark asked after a moment.
Arizona turned to hear to the door before looking back. "I love you, Mark. I don't think I've ever said that to you before."
"I love you too," Mark said. "That fight we had when Callie was in a coma. You know how wrong I was."
"We settled that a long time ago, you and I settled that. You're Sofia's father and Calliope and I are her mothers. We settled that," Arizona said before slipping out of the apartment.
Mark walked to the far corner of the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of scotch that was nearly as old as he was. He grabbed a glass down and poured himself enough to get through the conversation he was about to have with his best friend.
"Just say it." Callie shut the door behind her. "I know what I did was terrible."
"If I had been alive and that wasn't enough to put a stop to it, I would have testified for her, Callie," Mark said to Callie before downing half the scotch in one go. "When the car accident happened, she was the one that got Sofia's heart to beat. She was in even when I made it hard for her. Even when you did. She was in. She stepped up."
"I know what I did was terrible," Callie said again. "A plane fell out of the sky and my wife lost her leg and you died. And Arizona and I turned into people I didn't know anymore. But Arizona got better and I got bitter that she was getting better after what it felt like she put me through. By the time I was with Penny, I wanted to be the one that got to run away and burn it all down."
"It's not going to happen again," Mark finished his scotch before crossing the kitchen and wrapping her up in his arms. "You and Robbins are going to have your ten kids and Lexie and I are going to have a dozen. You and Lexie are going to make the holiday meals and Robbins and I will fight over who gets to carve the turkey. I never had a sister, not even when Mrs. Shepard took me in. Derek's sisters weren't really mine. But Robbins? I'll fight anyone who says she's not," He said in awe of the ideas he had for the future. "I can't call you my sister though because we did dirty stuff together."
"Mark," Callie laughed enough that it kept the tears in her eyes from falling. "Thank you for being my person. And thank you for not totally kicking me ass over the biggest mistake of my life. I already know it was that. I love you."
"I love you too, Torres. And making you feel like crap over something that hasn't happened yet and will now never happen isn't my style," Mark said as he leaned down to press a kiss to her forehead. "Let's go see what our girls are up to."
When they went back across the hall, Arizona and Lexie had the food already on the table. The pair was on the couch with Sofia between them playing with one of her stuffed toys.
"You two, alright?" Lexie asked as she twisted to look at the pair.
"We are," Mark promised as he crossed to the couch to drop a kiss on her forehead.
Callie crossed the space to sit on the arm of the couch and watch Sofia play. "She is so little again," she whispered.
"I'm going to miss sleeping through the night, but I can't say I'm sorry to have her back as a baby," Arizona smiled as she reached for her wife's hand. "I loved this age."
"She is very cute," Mark grinned as he rested his arm on the couch so he could just watch his daughter play. "I watched her as much as I could. Watched her learn to ride a bike and play dress up in scrubs and play with her cousins. I hated all I could do was watch."
Lexie reached back to ran her hand through his hair as the four adults all watched Sofia now. "She looks so much like you, Callie," she added.
"Acts just like Arizona though," Callie said with a squeeze of Arizona's hand. "Our kid could be a study of nature vs nurture."
"There are worse people our kid could look and act like than you two," Mark smiled at Sofia which made her laugh. "I'll be around to teach her this time. See if we can get another member of the plastics posse."
"Not a chance," Arizona rolled her eyes.
"Nope," Callie shook her head.
"Doubtful," Lexie laughed. "But you will have more chances in the future."
Mark just grinned and leaned forward. "Once you're done with your fellowship."
"I'm really glad to see the two of you together," Arizona said. "You bring our the best in each other."
"We're getting married," Mark told them. "Thursday night because Washington has a waiting period. We're going to have everyone over to dinner and do it right there at the apartment once everyone is there."
"Seriously?" Callie said in shock.
"You aren't the only two who had a lot to talk about this morning," Lexie said as she looked at Mark with a big smile on her face. "Mark and I, when we were gone, our souls found each other. And when we came back to here it was an easy choice when it asked."
"What can I say?" Mark shrugged. "Torres, will you stand up with me?"
"Of course," Callie said before coming around the couch to hug him again.
"Dr. Robbins, Arizona, we were hoping you might be willing to perform the service? You can get ordained online and it would mean a lot to Mark and I if you and Callie were involved," Lexie asked.
"It would be my honor," Arizona grinned as she leaned over Sofia to hug Lexie tightly.
"We should eat," Mark said as he and Callie broke out of their hug. "It's been a long time since Lexie and I have gotten to enjoy food."
Out in the hallway a man dressed in an Army uniform and a man dressed in flowing robes stood side by side as they watched the four adults and child all head to the table. If a person were to look down the hallway, they wouldn't be visible to them.
"Well, Timothy," the man in robes said. "I must say that this is one of the more elaborate miracles I've witnessed someone hoping to be a guardian angel set in motion."
"I wasn't there for her when she needed me most," Timothy said as he watched with a smile as his little sister and his sister-in-law took turns helping Sofia as Mark and Lexie told them about who would be coming Thursday. "I wanted to do right by her and show I'd be worthy of my wings to protect Sofia."
"You have done well." The man in robes patted the solider on the back. "You are officially Sofia's guardian angel. Protect her well." With a flap of his own wings he was gone.
Tim closed his eyes as he felt a pair of wings grow on his back. He kept his uniform though because it was as much a part of him as his love for his family. He stepped through the door to stand watch over his niece and even if it wouldn't be part of his official duties his sister and her wife.