And the other to see the truth and resolve to protect and fight for the things she loved.

-Protect the Things You Love-

Arizona stayed in the attending lounge, frozen as Callie walked past her. Her breathing turned heavy and broken as tears finally flowed down her face. The words she threw at her wife kept swirling in her mind, Callie's heartbroken and stoic face burned into her memory. She just couldn't stop herself, couldn't stop the anger that she'd buried from pushing its way back out of her mouth and making everything so much worse.

"Apparently I lost you."

God, what had she done?

Arizona pushed out of the room when her pager went off, numbness sinking into her bones as she entered the NICU. She worked for hours, smiling with a fakeness she didn't know she possessed as she stabilized both parents and children alike and avoided Lauren like the plague.

When they were finally granted a release from the hospital the following evening, she made her way across the street after learning that Callie had already picked Sofia up from daycare.

She found the apartment dark and silent, Sofia's bedroom empty and the door to their bedroom locked. She begged and cried, pleaded for forgiveness and a chance just to talk, to see her daughter. The silence from her wife terrified her and made her so weak that she sunk down to sit and lean against the door, murmurs of "I'm sorry" leaving her lips with each hitched breath.

When she woke up it was still dark and in defeat she limped her way back to the hospital slowly, drained and confused. She showered and changed into fresh scrubs in a daze and somehow found herself sitting in an empty lounge room a floor above the PEDs department.

She stared out the window at the sunrise and fought against the tears that were threatening to fall again. Thoughts of how she had ruined everything with one decision, of how she might lose Callie and Sofia forever because she had listened to that… woman and lost control ran through her mind as she blocked everything else out.

"Arizona."

She took a breath and released it slowly, her eyes closing in exhaustion. "Please just leave me alone," she whispered.

"I can't do that."

Arizona scoffed as she looked back out the window, "Obviously."

There was quiet for a minute and Arizona hoped that she would just leave her alone as she'd asked. She realized that luck had never been on her side when she felt a hand placed lightly on her shoulder.

She shook it off with disdain and stood, turning to see Lauren with both hands raised in placation, her eyes wide with innocence.

"Don't touch me." She dug deep for the anger she had thrown at Callie only hours ago but couldn't find it, disgusted as her words came out pleadingly.

"I know you're upset, just… I just want to help."

"You've helped enough!" The words came out as a frustrated yell and she felt herself lock into place, the anger stabilizing her as she faced Lauren just a few feet away.

"Arizona… I know this is hard. Everything has been hard for a long time but it can get better." She paused and took a step forward, smiling slightly when Arizona didn't take a step back to match it. "I can make it better if you just let me," she added softly.

Arizona shook her head, stepping back as Lauren took a step forward. "No one can make it better… I- I ruined everything."

"Then it wasn't meant to be." Lauren said sympathetically and crossed the remaining steps between them. "You belong with someone who can make you feel good. I can do that if you just let me."

She felt Lauren rest her hand on her hip, freezing as the other came up slowly to cup the back of her neck.

"I've been worried about you all day. I just couldn't stop thinking about you." Lauren pulled their bodies together slowly, moving as if Arizona was a frightened animal. "I know you're upset that your wife found out about us but you don't have to be upset anymore." She hugged Arizona to her body briefly before leaning back from the embrace. "Just let go again," she whispered as she moved in to take Arizona's lips.

"NO!" Arizona pushed her away, feeling the rage she desperately needed bubble up inside of her. "Stop… just stop!"

"Arizona."

"Stop saying my name!" Arizona fisted her hands at her temples, trying to block out the chaos that her life had turned into within the past 24 hours. She breathed deeply through her nose, closing her eyes and focusing on her breathing as she tried to calm down and gain some sense of control of the situation in front of her.

"I made a mistake." Arizona said the words slowly and paused as the words settled in her heart.

Yes, she was still angry with Callie.

Yes, she didn't know how they were going to move past the issues of trust and her infidelity.

But she knew without a doubt, deep down in her soul that she still loved Callie and that she couldn't imagine her life without her in it.

"I love my wife," she said as her eyes met Lauren's across the room, "and no, things have not been perfect in our marriage but I'm not this person. I won't betray my wife and my daughter again."

Lauren looked at her quizzically for a few moments, the silence between them allowing Arizona to rationalize what had happened and allow the guilt to multiply in her gut.

"Do you really think your wife will take you back after this?" Lauren huffed out a breath in disbelief. "We have something- something that obviously you don't have with your wife anymore. Like I said in the NICU, I like you and I won't leave until we talk about what happened… about what we could have together."

Arizona shook her head and walked to the door, intent on making the right decision this time. "There's nothing to talk about. We'll never have anything together Lauren." She opened it and didn't bother to look back as she stepped into the busy hallway.

"I showed your wife your ring so that we could."

Arizona froze as the words registered in her mind, the shocked breath that was pulled into her lungs so painful that it hurt. She turned slowly as she heard Lauren move out of the lounge to stand behind her in the hallway.

"You… you did that on purpose?" She whispered in disbelief.

Lauren shrugged, "I go after the things I want Arizona. I could tell that you didn't want to talk and I saw an opportunity, so I took it." She smiled before taking a step closer. "I thought it was worth a shot since it worked so well in the on-call room."

The slap echoed down the hallway, the fifteen or so people around them freezing and looking at the sound. Lauren gasped as her hand cradled her cheek.

"Get out of my hospital." Arizona hissed the words out, unable to stop the red from seeping into the edges of her vision or her stinging hand from balling into a fist as she realized she'd been manipulated by the woman in front of her. "I made a stupid mistake and I don't know if it will cost me my wife and my child." She felt her throat close at those words, the pain of losing Callie and Sofia twisting in her gut. "I was raised to be a good man in a storm and I-I haven't protected the things I love in a long time… but that changes now."

She stepped closer to Lauren, hearing the murmurs of those that were watching around them in her ears. "So, I'm not going to say this again. We will never be together and you are no longer welcome in my hospital… so get out."

She turned and limped down the hallway, not meeting the shocked faces of her colleagues as she thought of where she might be able to find Avery at such an early hour of the day to get rid of Lauren Boswell for good.

I'm sorry but I just had to have Lauren slapped... and it felt oh so good to have Arizona do it.

Sorry for the long wait, I was out of the country for two weeks visiting Peru (beautiful country- Machu Picchu took my breath away) then spent another week in the mountains of North Carolina with my family. I was stuck with horrible internet service for three long weeks, but had a wonderful time.

Glad to be back and publishing again :)

Fannye