DISCLAIMER: grey's anatomy does not belong to me. credit to abc studios and shonda

A/N: this is primarily a callica fic, but i am not anti-arizona, so she has found her place here as well. reviews appreciated but not required as always.

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Cause when push comes to shove

You taste what you're made of

You might bend til you break

Cause it's all you can take

On your knees you look up

Decide you've had enough

You get mad, you get strong

Wipe your hands, shake it off

Then you stand

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She had no idea where she was. She had just woken up to a grey sky outside the dirty window of the greyhound. The scenery out her window was unspecific, giving her no clue as to her location. She pulled her headphones down around her neck and turned to the guy in the seat next to her. He couldn't have been much older than she was, maybe twenty one at the most. His hair was dirty blonde, and he kept his sage green eyes down towards the book he was reading. He seemed friendly enough, so she tapped his shoulder.

When he looked up, she tried her best to appear friendly. "Excuse me, do you happen to know where we're going?"

The young man raised one eyebrow questioningly, obviously wondering how someone could be on a bus and not know where it was headed. Finally, he answered. "Seattle."

She nodded. It wasn't exactly where she wanted to be, but it would do… for now.

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Callie Torres turned over, her body still asleep, with every intention of burying her face deep in blonde curls as she'd done almost every morning this week, only to find the other half of the bed unoccupied. She sat up in bed and stretched. It didn't surprise her that her girlfriend was already up; Arizona was an early riser.

Callie heard the opening and closing of cupboards in the kitchen and smiled. Either that was Yang which meant coffee was already made, or that was Arizona which meant coffee was already made. A win-win situation in Callie's mind; she loved her morning coffee.

She pushed the covers off and got up, padding out of her bedroom. She nearly collided with Yang in front of the bathroom door. Her roommate had her toothbrush sticking out the side of her mouth, her black curls were unkempt, and there were dark circles under her eyes, signaling to Callie that she had just woken up as well and had hence not had her morning caffeine requirement yet.

"She's doing shots of wheatgrass again Torres. The only purpose of a shot glass is to make it appear as if you're controlling your tequila intake. Doesn't she know that? How can she taint it with healthy? She has got to go. And here I thought you couldn't do worse than Hahn. Nobody should be that perky! It's just… wrong… evil." Yang's voice lowered to a whisper as she said the last sentence.

Callie couldn't help but chuckle. She had felt the same way about the blonde haired, blue eyed pediatric surgeon just a few short months ago. She had been wary of Arizona's sunshine-y demeanor. But the past three months had changed her mind completely. She now found Arizona's endless optimism to be exceedingly comforting.

"Calliope, are you awake?"

Yang rolled her eyes at the use of Callie's full name. Arizona was the only person, with the exception of her parents, that she allowed to call her that.

"Coming."

Yang shook her head and glared at Callie with contempt in her eyes. "I see you've joined the dark side Torres."

Callie shrugged, a smile tugging at her lips. "They had cookies."

Yang scoffed and disappeared back into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. Even she couldn't find a reasonable argument against Arizona's superior baking skills and her top secret snickerdoodle recipe.

Callie emerged into the kitchen to find Arizona holding a steaming cup of coffee out to her. A huge smile lit her features. "You, are a godsend."

"So that's all I have to do to achieve sainthood, pour coffee? Hmmm, I think I've been trying too hard."

Callie leaned in and kissed the blonde softly, silencing all conversation. She pulled away. "Morning."

Arizona smiled, an action not uncommon to her. "Morning."

Her coffee momentarily forgotten, Callie pressed herself closer to the blonde and captured her lips again. Arizona made no objection, instead bracing herself against the counter.

"Ugh, get a room." Yang trudged in, commandeered Callie's untouched cup of coffee and trudged right back out of the room.

Callie sighed, successfully distracted from her course by the interruption. "Just as well. I got surgery in an hour anyway. "She got the coffee pot and a fresh mug, pouring herself a new cup.

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Callie was surprised at how fast she had taken to being openly affectionate with Arizona at work. With Erica, everything had been moderately hush-hush. Sure, there had been minor touches, footsie under cafeteria tables, and the occasional on-call room rendezvous, but nothing too intense. Erica had believed in the separation of professional and personal, especially when you throw in the I'm-a-woman-as-are-you-a-woman aspect. However, Arizona was out and proud. She had no qualms about holding hands on the way down to lunch or quick kisses as they passed in the hallway. She was a lot more physical than Callie had anticipated she'd be. Not that Callie minded, of course. She actually felt more comfortable with her sexuality when she was able to express it openly, rather than when she had to hide it. It had been scary the first time they'd left the hospital together and Arizona had grabbed her hand and laced their fingers together, much to the shock of the SGH staff. Since then, Callie had become rather accustomed to, and actually enjoyed, their little displays of PDA. She found it to be rather liberating.

So she felt no flicker of shame or embarrassment as they parted ways in front of the surgical board and Arizona gave her a lingering kiss. The second the peds surgeon disappeared around the corner, Mark Sloan materialized next to Callie.

"Where's little Grey?"

Callie had barely seen the couple apart since they went public. She was everywhere he was and the reason Callie refused to hook up with Arizona in the on-call rooms. Not that Arizona would ever agree to it anyway, but even if she would Callie didn't want to walk in on Sloan plugging little Grey.

"She's… around."

"Fight?"

"Is it that obvious?"

"Your fault or hers?"

"Mine, according to her."

"What'd you do?"

"I wasn't as enthusiastic as I should have been about the wedding when she was talking about it last night."

Callie nodded. Derek Shepard and Meredith Grey's impending nuptials had been the center of the gossip mill, along with Izzie Steven's cancer, for over two months. Izzie had taken the liberty of becoming their wedding planner via hospital bed. Callie had to admit that she was doing just as good a job as any professional could, even if she couldn't leave her room.

"You're not excited?"

"Don't get me wrong, I'm happy for them and I think getting married is a good step for them. But I just can't help feeling like I'm holding my breath waiting for it to crumble, like it has in the past."

Callie nodded again. She could respect that. Grey and Shepard had a dicey history, a collection of breakups and makeups that were notorious around SGH. "I hope they do make it work. I know what it's like, wanting this fairytale life you've planned to work out and in the end it doesn't."

"I hope so too. I think we all need it to work. All of us, Christina and Owen, me and little Grey, you and Arizona… we need to see that they can make it, so we have hope that we can make it too, that even the damaged ones get happily ever after."

Callie smiled. Mark had truly changed since he began dating Lexie Grey, Meredith's half sister and the brightest intern at SGH. He was no longer the man whore she had used to get her kicks. He was now her best friend, their past a distant memory. He had helped her through the post-Erica crumble. He had held her with no expectations. If this were a year ago she might have fallen in love with him. Now, she just cared for him as if he were her family. She put a hand on his shoulder. She said nothing, her eyes telling him how proud she was of his obvious growth.

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"You look tired." Arizona smiled at the sight of Callie, but concern clouded her eyes. Callie was drooping, beautiful but drooping.

Callie fell into an empty chair on the other side of the desk. She stared at Arizona in silence. It was something she used to do with Erica. Erica had understood that sometimes words could be superfluous. Arizona however, was intimidated by silence.

"Calliope, what's wrong?"

Callie sighed and massaged her temples. "I lost a patient on the table today."

Arizona nodded, understanding covering her face. It was a feeling every surgeon knew well. It was inevitable when you were playing god that some would be lost. And yet, it never hurt any less each time you realized the person before you wasn't going to wake up. "Who?"

"Nathan Haysberry. 28 year old crash victim. 2 ribs punctured his right lung. I was unable to remove the bones before…" Callie was near tears but she dared not spill them.

"Family?"

"Newly wed. His wife is 6 months pregnant with their first… their only… child."

"How'd she take it?"

"She doesn't know yet. She was visiting her parents in Olympia when she got the call. Her parents are driving her here."

Arizona got up, walked around the desk, and held her hand out to Callie. "Come."

Callie took her hand and stood.

"We're going to go down to there and wait for his wife and then you're going to tell her that you fought, but sometimes fights are lost. Then I'm going to take you home, and when you're ready to fall apart, I'll be there to make sure you stay together."

Callie took a deep breath and let Arizona lead her out of her office and down to ruin a woman's life.