Calzona One Shots

Home.

It had been almost a year since Arizona had given Callie the plane tickets for her and Sofia to go and live with Penny. The two women had established a good schedule for when Arizona got to see Sofia, she had booked vacation days when she could and often spent times in New York if Sofia had a play at school, or something she didn't want to miss. She liked that they had some normality to the situation, yet still after a year she felt like a part of her was missing. Arizona would find herself lying awake most nights thinking over the events of the last few years, the divorce, the custody battle, all of it. For her tonight was no different, she sighed as she looked at her clock and realised the time, 4:36am. She had to be up and getting ready for work in under 2 hours. She tossed and turned for a while, listening to the storm outside when she heard a soft knock at her front door. Arizona was confused as to who would be at her house this early, or this late. She slid into her leg and put her robe on before making her way downstairs. She turned on the light by the door as another knock rippled through.

"It's like 5am what the-" Arizona started as she opened her door shocked at the sight in front of her.

A rain soaked Callie was stood with her sleeping daughter in her arms, her coat protecting their daughter from the rain and a weak smile on her face, but Arizona noticed that it didn't quite meet her eyes. Arizona had always been able to read Callie through her eyes and she couldn't help but notice a sadness in them.

"Callie? What are you doing here? I don't have Sofia for another two weeks?" The blonde asked.

"Can I come in?" Was all Callie replied with.

"Oh shoot, of course, go sit down you must be freezing, I'll go put Sof in her bed." Arizona smiled taking their daughter from her ex-wife as she stepped into her home.

As she took Sofia up to her room and gently kissed her head as she put the girl in her bed all she could think of is why Callie was here, in the early hours of the morning no less.

When she went back downstairs Callie was pacing the floor of her living room.

"Hey."

"Hey. I'm sorry for waking you." The taller woman smiled back.

"I was awake, I'm always awake. So is there a story as to why you're on my doorstep at this time?" Arizona joked as she awkwardly toyed with her robe.

"I needed to go, I was suffocating and I needed to breathe." Callie explained as Arizona sat down on the couch, a puzzled look written across her face.

"What do you mean suffocating?"

"I followed Penny to New York because I was convinced that's where my heart is, wherever she is. I felt so lost for so long and I finally felt like I had found my home, New York with her. I thought it would solve everything and I could get on with my life. I was so broken Arizona. After the crash and everything we went through I changed. I'm not the girl I was when you loved me. I barely make it through the day anymore. I feel like a part of me is missing." Callie said, Arizona hanging on her every word, knowing that feeling all too well.

"Before Penny met Sofia I asked Bailey what I should do, and she asked me when I watch her kick a ball and imagine her in the world cup, making the winning goal and everybody cheering, and I'm on the side lines shouting "Torres, Torres" who I saw cheering her on beside me. I told myself it was Penny, that I saw my future with her, and maybe part of me did. I have thought about that conversation every day since I left, I lie awake at night trying to piece together the puzzle but I just can't." She explained, a slight crack in her voice.

"I've been lying to Penny, and I've been lying to myself. I finally snapped. I can't put either of us through a relationship that is one sided, I won't. So I left. I packed up as much of mine and Sofia's stuff as I could and I left her a note. It's cowardly and cruel, I know that, but I can't face her just to break her heart. So I ran, went straight to the airport, I didn't even know where I was going, but when the woman asked me where I wanted the tickets for my heart spoke for me, Seattle. The whole flight I was planning what I was going to say to you in my head, I had this big speech, and I haven't said a single word of it. It took me so long to realise it Arizona, but I was looking for a place to call home. It's not a place, it's a feeling and for the first time in a year I've been able to breathe because I'm home. Because after all this fighting with myself I found the missing piece to my puzzle, the person I see myself cheering on our little girl with. All of it boils down to the same answer. You, Arizona." Callie confessed flustering as a tear rolled down her cheek.

Arizona stood up from her place on the couch and walked over to the taller woman, silence echoing between the two of them. She met Callie's eyes with her own, and that's when she saw it. The honesty behind every single word she just said, and a smile crept it's way onto her lips.

"Please just say something." Callie sighed looking at Arizona.

"Calliope." She began. "No matter how much it broke my heart, I watched you and Sofia walk away from me. All because I wanted you to be happy, that's all I've ever wanted for you, whether I was a part of that happy or not. These last few years have been hell from us, and you being on the other side of the country didn't help that's for sure. I knew a part of me was missing too, from the day I met you I knew you'd become an important part of my life. I could never have anticipated that you'd be the most important part, but I wouldn't change it for the world. I put us through hell, I know I did, after the crash I treated you like you didn't mean anything, and that was wrong of me, I cheated on you, and it's my biggest regret. I've been so sorry for all of that, sorry enough to let you walk away from me, because I thought you had someone to treat you better than I could, to love you in the way you deserve Callie. But listening to you talk right now, I feel like I'm back in the bathroom at Joe's falling in love with you all over again, because I've never stopped loving you Calliope, and I never will. I want to be your home, I want to be next to you holding your hand as we watch our baby girl do great things, and cheer her on from the side lines." Arizona told her as she took the brunettes hand in her own and felt her warm at the contact.

"Because I love you, and you love me." Callie smiled.

"And none of the rest of it matters." Arizona smiled, finishing a sentence the couple had encountered once before.

Callie let her hand rest on Arizona's face before pulling her in for a tentative but heartfelt kiss, and that's when she felt everything shift back into place, as she pulled away and looked in adoration at the woman she loved she knew it.

She was home.

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