A New Beginning (Chapter 6)
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A/N: I must be running off of adrenaline right now, because I have no idea how I've managed an update every day. BUT I am super excited to post this one and hear your opinion of it. For those of you that I was discussing the matter with, I did stick to my original plan for various reasons, even though you guys had some super awesome ideas :)
So let me know what you think <3
Chapter 6
Arizona’s heart felt like it was going to break I half at seeing her brother's face so downcast. He was truly upset about something and she knew whatever it was, it wasn’t good.
Daniel struggled to say what he needed to say and Arizona began to feel more nervous with every passing second. When he opened his mouth to speak she held her breath, knowing what he was about to say...he knew...he knew about her...
'What am I going to say? How do I explain-”
“Arizona, I’m leaving,” Daniel let it out and avoided the blue eyes that were staring at him in shock. That was definitely not what she was expecting.
“Leaving? I don’t under-” Arizona choked on tears that started to well up in her eyes, unable to finish her sentence.
“I...” Daniel finally lifted his head and looked into his sister's eyes as he spoke, his sister's unshod tears a reflection of his own. “I joined the military.”
“I'm going to be deployed in three weeks.”
Arizona was sure her heart stopped completely like it was being ripped from her chest as Daniel said this. She couldn’t see, she couldn’t hear, and she was sure that she was dying. No pain she had ever felt even came close to comparing with the pain she was feeling now. Death seemed like such a welcome friend a the moment that she felt herself stop breathing.
Daniel was silent as Arizona took it all in, knowing how much it hurt her and hating to see her so upset. He had come to learn that a silent Arizona was way more dangerous than an angry Arizona, and he waited for a reaction, any reaction that would be better than none at all.
Arizona started to see everything going dark and right before she could lost all awareness she released a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding. Tears simultaneously spilled from her eyes as she gave her body over to the sobs that erupted from her.
Daniel felt his own tears start to fall again for the second time tonight. He knew this was the part that he dreaded the most. He was sold on the idea of following in his father's footsteps by serving his country, but he knew his decision would tear his baby sister apart.
Arizona slid out from under her covers and moved to sit in her brother's lap, wrapping her arms around his waist and burying her face into the crook of his neck.
Daniel wrapped his arms around Arizona and held tight, the way he held her when as a child when she was upset. He knew it would be this way and he hated it, but it had to be done. But he promised himself that he would come home safely to her, the way she had promised the same to him every time she went out.
“I'm so sorry Arizona. I love you.”
Arizona cried until she fell asleep in Daniel’s arms, never speaking a words, thinking that maybe if she slept through her pain, she would wake up and it would all just be a bad dream, hoping that if she held onto him forever then he wouldn’t leave.
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Callie woke up slowly as a dim, gray light started to stream in through the windows of her large living room. She was confused as to why she was on the couch until she saw Addison laying on the couch across from hers and last night came flooding back to her.
She laid still and let her mind wander, not ready to get up and start her day yet. When she closed her eyes she saw Arizona. And instead of being angry, Callie found herself smiling. For once she was actually happy that Arizona was the ever present entity in her thoughts.
Next she smiled over at Addison asleep on the couch, one arm hanging precariously off of the side. She was eternally grateful to have her as a best friend. Because of Addison, she saw George cheating on her as a good thing, as a way out of a relationship that wasn’t going anywhere. And because of Addison she knew what needed to be done about Arizona. She just needed to be her friend.
Still not ready to admit that she might be a lesbian, Callie just wanted to be friends with Arizona. If she always felt the need to be near the cute blonde, then she would. Friends hang out together all the time, so maybe she should just invite her over sometime.
Callie was suddenly looking forward to school on Monday to try out the beginnings of a relationship with Arizona. She had a feeling that they wouldn’t have a heard time becoming great friends since they already got along so well in the few days that they had known each other.
'Maybe I could go from there. See how that turns out and then decide what to do.'
She didn’t have to rush into things, she didn’t have to make her decision now. But what suddenly scared her was the thought of wanting to be with Arizona. The thought of maybe one day being something more than a friend to Arizona scared the living hell out of her. And she pushed the thought away angrily. That was not going to happen. Absolutely not.
'I’m not gay. I'm not.'
Quiet footsteps on the stairs behind her caused Callie to turn and see Aria walking down the staircase slowly, her hands pressed against her head.
'She definitely drank too much. Of course.'
Upon seeing Callie watching her warily, Aria's face dropped.
“Cal...” She quickly took a place on the couch and Callie sat up to accommodate her sister.
“Callie, I’m so sorry. I should have listened when you said you needed to go. I didn’t know.”
Callie screwed up her face in confusion, wandering how Aria had found out about the incident.
“Addison told me when I got back last night.” Aria answered Callie’s unspoken question.
'Oh, that explains it.'
“Are you okay?” Aria seemed genuinely worried about her sister.
“Yeah, I guess. I mean, its over now right? There's nothing I can do about it.”
Aria's emerald eyes widened and she smiled.
“Oh, but there is! You could make the good for nothing baby face pay. Oh yes, you could do great things to him...” she smiled wickedly and her thoughts drifted to ones of pleasure at hurting George like he had hurt her sister.
This caused Callie laughed loudly, waking Addison up and mumbling something about it being so early.
Callie entertained the idea of making George O'Malley suffer for cheating on her for a few moments before deciding that she had more important things to think about.
“I'm alright, Aria.” Really I am. George and I-” she frowned. “We were falling apart already. And I mean we all knew that there was something between him and Stevens, right? It was obvious you know. I just chose to ignore it. And this is where it got me. But...now I cant be held down.” Callie began to feel better as she realized that she truly believed everything she was saying and wasn’t just saying it to make herself feel better.
“I can meet new people, make new friends.” She paused to think about Arizona and smiled. “And eventually maybe I'll find the person who I’m truly meant to be with.”
Aria hugged Callie and grinned widely.
“That's the bad ass sister that I know. You'll have people begging to be with you sis. You're always awesome and you know it.” She gave Callie a last hug before heading out the front door.
“I'll be back later. I have some shopping to do. Mom and dad already left for tennis so you know they wont be home until late tonight.” She walked out the door calling behind her to add “Go have some fun Callie. Find something to keep your mind off of things.”
Addison joined Callie on the couch once Aria left and nodded at he friend.
“She's right you know. You are awesome and you deserve better than what you had. And you could use a day off from all that thinking going on in there,” she tapped Callie’s temple lightly.
“So what do you say we go to the mall and hang out?” She peered out the window at the rain steadily falling without letting up.
“It's better than being trapped in the house all day.” She shook her head at the rain and scoffed.
“That is the one thing that I do not miss about Seattle.
Callie grinned. “Thank you for everything Addison. If you hadn’t been here last night, I don’t know what I would've done.”
Addison raised her eyebrows and smirked. “Well, you would probably still be lying around crying about George, who is not worth crying over by the way. Obviously. Oh, and you wouldn’t know where to even start with your, uh, Arizona situation.”
She winked and stood to walk towards the kitchen.
“But, you aren’t because I’m here and I’m awesome, and we are going to go out and have some fun.”
As soon as Addison said this there was a quiet knock at the front door. Callie pushed herself up off the couch to answer the knock, no doubt Aria coming back to get something she had forgotten, something she does way too often.
When Callie opened the door her breath caught in her chest.
Arizona stood there soaking wet, her clothes clinging to her small frame and her usually bouncy curls flattened against her head. Her eyes were red and it was immediately obvious to Callie that she had been crying.
Callie resisted the urge to pull Arizona into a huge hug, not knowing the reason the blonde was upset.
Before she could say anything she was stopped by the look in Arizona’s usually bright eyes, eyes that were now glossy with tears.
“Calliope.” The one word she spoken was broken by tears and Callie felt her heart break at the apparent sadness in Arizona’s voice. Today there was no smile, no dimples, no perky Arizona. Today there was only a broken Arizona, and Callie wanted to help, wanted to stop the pain that had currently destroyed the Arizona that she had met only days ago.
Arizona quickly averted her gaze from Callie, not wanting to deal with her feelings for the brunette at the moment. She was surprised that she was in so much pain that she couldn’t even feel as excited as she usually did to see her new friend.
“I'm sorry. I know I should have at least called first, and maybe I shouldn’t be here at all, you probably don’t want me here, but you are the closest thing to a friend that I have right now,” she explained herself and finally looked into Callie’s eyes and broke down, tears starting to fall and mix with the trails of rain that were already running jagged patterns across her face.
“I just really need someone to talk to Calliope.”
Callie nodded and motioned for Arizona to come into the house.
“Yeah, yeah of course. Don't apologize.”
Arizona gratefully accepted Callie’s invitation and stepped into her house cautiously. She motioned to her clothes and gave Callie a look of apology.
“I don’t want to ruin your floor.” She stood in one spot on the welcome mat, her clothes dripping from the rain that she hadn’t expected to encounter on her walk.
“No, no you're fine. Um,” Callie stumbled on her words, unsure of what to say to Arizona. She was the last person she had expected to see on her doorstep, especially in the condition she was in.
Addison stood in the kitchen watching the sad blonde look around solemnly. She knew immediately who the girl was. Her gorgeous blue eyes instantly giving her away. Even drenched in rain Addison could understand why Callie was so taken by this girl. She was indeed beautiful even with tears staining her face. Addison now knew why Callie was so nervous about this girl.
Callie turned to the red-head and waved a hand in her direction. When she spoke it was obvious that she was caught off guard by the blonde's unexpected appearance.
“This is, uh, this is Addison.” Addison smiled to hide a laugh that threatened to escape her at the way Callie was acting. It was painfully obvious that she was nervous around Arizona.
“You must be Arizona. Callie has told me a lot about you,” she looked at Callie, enjoying the way Callie’s eyes widened, already nervous enough and not needing Addison to give her away completely.
She noticed the blonde's unsure look and quickly added “Oh, only good things of course.”
Arizona felt her heart soar at Addison's words despite the sadness that had consumed her since her brother's news. Callie had been talking to Addison about her, but what did that mean?
She forced a sad smile and glanced at Callie who found herself smiling back involuntarily.
“Well, it's nice to meet you Addison.”
Everything fell into place at once. Addison was the reason why Callie had made a quick exit from her car last night. She thought back to Chemistry class and remembered Callie mentioning that Addison was her best friend who had moved away because of Mark Sloan. She must be here to visit.
'That's good right because Callie is hurting. Addison will be good for her.'
Arizona was happy to see that Callie had someone to talk to, but at the same time she was disappointed that Callie hadn’t accepted her invitation to talk to her. But she understood...she didn’t really expect Callie to talk to her. They weren't really friends yet, but for some reason the idea still saddened her.
And then she felt guilty as she realized that Callie and Addison probably had plans for the day seeing as how Addison was back in town and here she was intruding. Great.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt ,”she stammered guiltily.
Addison quickly looked to Callie then back to Arizona, making a quick decision to call of their plans for the day. She was not about to stand in the way of these two. They needed to be together for a while.
“No, no, no, we were just going to stay around here today. You know, have a lazy day with the rain and all. But I think I’m actually going to head out and grab some food.” Addison opened the fridge and pointed inside. “There's nothing good in here. I need some real food.”
Callie started to argue, feeling guilty about having to cancel their plans, but Addison stopped her with a quick shake of her head. And Callie understood. Addison was willing to give up her plans to help her with Arizona. But she knew this wasn’t going to be the exciting time with Arizona that she had in mind. Something was seriously upsetting Arizona and she needed to just be there for her right now. This was her chance.
“Okay, uh, let me go get you some dry clothes and we can talk.”
Arizona smiled in thanks and Callie took one last look at her before heading to her room to find some clothes.
Downstairs Arizona stood motionless on the rug, looking around at Callie’s elaborately decorated house, trying to prepare herself for having to explain the situation to Callie, a task that would prove very difficult for her in her current emotional state.
Addison walked up to the blonde, trying to find the right words to say to her. She knew this was going to be important for her and Callie’s possible relationship and she needed Arizona to realize the same thing.
“She's a great friend you know.” Addison nodded slowly to emphasize her point.
“She's absolutely amazing when you get to know her and she has a big heart. But it's just been broken.” the red-head stared into Arizona’s icy blue eyes, willing her to understand what she was telling her.
“She will be there for you no matter what. But right now she needs a friend too. So it looks like you two have that in common.”
Arizona was confused why Addison was telling her this, but she listened anyways. She knew there was a reason, even though it wasn’t obvious. She wasn’t trying to take Arizona away from her and she wasn’t aiming to do anything that would hurt her. She only wanted someone to talk to before he grief killed her.
Addison started to say something more but stopped when Callie came running back down the stairs. Instead she held Arizona’s gaze and smiled warmly, knowing the girl needed comforting and happy that Callie would be the one to help her, but hinting at Arizona that Callie was still fragile too, so she would need someone to hear her out as well.
Arizona didn’t have much time to interpret what Addison was trying to tell her, but for some reason it felt like an invitation as well as a warning at getting close to Callie. It scared her and excited her at the same time and as Callie approached her holding out some dry clothes, she caught a look in the brunette's eyes that made her feel like maybe she wasn’t the only one needing to be loved, a look that made her feel like maybe she would have a chance with Calliope after all...