A/N: This was based off a prompt that wanted to see Alex take Abby to her first baseball game as referenced in Seventh Inning Stretch. I think it's time to jump ahead in the timeline a bit to move past the friendship and into the romantic Alex/Arizona relationship. I've been a little blocked lately so if you have any prompts let me know. Thanks for reading and enjoy!
Disclaimer: Grey's Anatomy and its characters are owned by ABC and not me.
...
Alex Karev wearily made his way through the crowded cafeteria of Seattle Grace - Mercy West. He only had forty-five minutes before his next surgery and he desperately needed food to give him the energy to make it through the rest of the day. Over the last four weeks, Alex learned that tired had a whole new meaning. Alex had thought that after dealing with college, medical school and residency he was prepared for the lack of sleep that came with a newborn baby. He was wrong. He was oh so very wrong. He had never felt as exhausted as he did in the first few weeks of his daughter being home.
"You're going to die of a heart attack if you keep eating like that," Meredith commented as she eyed Alex's tray as he sat at the lunch table.
Alex shrugged his shoulder and popped open the top to his energy drink and unwrapped the chocolate bar, "It's either this or fall asleep while doing my back-to-back hernia repairs this afternoon."
"I thought Robbins had the kid all the time?" Cristina asked as she watched Alex gulp down the energy drink.
Alex wiped his mouth with his hand and let out a loud burp, "I've been sleeping in her guest room to help out with all the middle of the night crap."
"I don't see why you're not taking advantage of the perfect set-up you have. You're at work all day while Arizona is home taking care of the screaming, pooping kid. You go home - spend a few hours with the kid then you can go upstairs to your own place and sleep."
Meredith and Alex didn't seem too fazed by Cristina's anti-baby comments. After all, there was a reason why Cristina didn't have any children.
"Don't listen to her, Alex. I think it's sweet that you're helping out so much," Meredith rolled her eyes at Cristina next to her.
Alex just shrugged his shoulders and took a bite of his chocolate bar. He didn't see what he was doing as anything special. He was taking care of his child. That was what a father was supposed to do.
"When are you going to start taking her on her own?" Meredith asked while Alex finished his candy.
"This weekend," Alex answered.
He and Arizona had decided that for the first four weeks of her life, Abby would live with Arizona and Alex would have unlimited access to her. They wanted the baby to acclimate to her new world and settle into a routine as much as possible without having to deal with also getting to know two different homes. Alex took Abby up to his condo for a little bit of time each day to introduce her to it but she spent the majority of her first four weeks in her mother's home. But after a month, it was time for them to start their custody schedule. Abby would spend Monday and Tuesday with her father and Wednesday through Friday with Arizona. Weekends would be shared equally with each parent getting two a month. Sunday nights were also declared family night and would be spent with the three of them together. Of course, Alex and Arizona were very flexible with the schedule as they were both doctors and knew that each would often have to work on nights that they were supposed to have their daughter. Alex and Arizona were both also grateful for the fact that they did live in the same building so even when it wasn't their day with their daughter they knew they would still get to see her. They both understood that as she got older, the custody plan would change to fit everyone's growing needs but for now they were both happy with it.
"What do you have planned for your first weekend?" Cristina asked, genuinely curious at her friend's foray into fatherhood.
"She's four weeks old," Alex said sarcastically. "It's not like she can do much. I'm pretty sure it's going to be a lot of bottles, spitting up and pooping. But I do have tickets for Sunday's Mariners game if I can convince Arizona to let me take her."
Cristina quirked her eyebrows, "She's your kid. Your name is on the birth certificate. I don't think you need permission."
"Ha," Alex laughed. "She might be mine but you do not mess with a mama bear. Arizona is great and amazing but she is also hormonal and sleep-deprived. She totally has crazy eyes and trust me, you do not mess with a woman when she has crazy eyes."
Meredith nodded in agreement. She knew that eventually Arizona and Alex would work together with parenting decisions but as a new mom Arizona's hormones were still all out of whack and Alex would just have to be understanding with her and let her have her way for awhile.
Alex's pager went off and he groaned at the interruption. His forty-five minute lunch had just turned into fifteen but duty called.
"Hey," Cristina called after him. "If you don't use those tickets can Owen and I take them?"
"You don't even like baseball," Alex shouted back over his shoulder. He didn't even want to entertain the thought of giving away his baseball tickets. He had been looking forward to taking his baby to baseball games together ever since he knew he was going to be a father and with only a few weeks left of the season his window of opportunity was fading until the next spring.
...
"Hello baby girl," Alex cooed as he kissed Abby on the forehead. Even though Abby was just waking up from a nap, she was flailing her arms and legs excitedly at being in her father's arms. "Were you good for your mama today?" he asked the baby as he glanced up at Arizona who was busy plating the food Alex had picked up on his way home for dinner.
"She was. She slept for three whole hours after her breakfast bottle this morning," Arizona answered for her daughter.
"Hopefully she still sleeps tonight," Alex said as he shifted his daughter into his left arm to make it easier for him to eat dinner.
Arizona agreed as she pushed a plate toward Alex. The two caught up on each other's respective days. Arizona had been out of the hospital for almost five weeks and relied on Alex to keep her updated on how her department was functioning without her. And Alex wanted to know every detail of his daughter's day even if it did consist mainly of eating and sleeping.
After dinner was eaten and the dishes were cleared, Alex and Arizona retreated to the living room to relax. Arizona stretched out on the couch as she flipped through the television and Alex took up residence on the love seat as he fed Abby a bottle.
Alex could see that Arizona was starting to get sleepy and he wanted to talk to her about the baseball game before she got too tired to really listen to him.
"Hey, I wanted to talk to you about this weekend," Alex broached the topic wearily.
"What about?" Arizona's interest was piqued. She was equal parts looking forward to the weekend while also dreading it. She was looking forward to getting more than four hours of sleep in a row but at the same time she didn't want to be away from her daughter for that long.
Alex knew that Arizona wasn't going to like his plan. He was worried about how she'd respond. He almost decided to forget about it but then he took a quick look into his daughter's big brown eyes that were staring up at him as she sucked on her bottle. He wanted to do this for his daughter. He wanted to share his passion with her and looking at his daughter reminded him of that fact.
"I got tickets for all of us to go to the Mariners game on Sunday."
"No," Arizona shot down Alex's idea quickly.
"Arizona," Alex sighed as he lifted Abby up on his shoulder to burp her. "You didn't even think about it."
Arizona sat up on the couch and glared at him, "What's to think about, Alex? She's four weeks old. She doesn't need to be going to a baseball game, surrounded by thousands of people in this weather."
"It's supposed to be sixty-five on Sunday and she has plenty jackets to keep her warm. And you know as well as I do that exposure to germs is actually good for babies."
"It's not a good idea," Arizona continued to reject Alex's idea.
Alex was starting to get angry at Arizona for not even thinking about it. He didn't expect her to be an easy sell but he at least expected her to consider it before saying no. He knew he needed some time to cool down before he said something that he'd regret.
"I'm going to take her up to my place for a little bit. Give you some time to yourself. I'll give her a bath and get her all ready for bed and be back for bedtime," Alex said as he got up from the couch. Alex was almost to the front door when he glanced back at Arizona who was staring at him from the couch. "You know I'd never do anything that could remotely hurt her, Arizona. So please just think about it."
Arizona let out a long sigh as she sank back into the couch. She didn't understand why Alex didn't understand where she was coming from. Abby was still so very tiny. Too little to be outside in the elements for so long with so many people and who knows what diseases they had. It was taking everything she had to not have a breakdown over Abby spending the weekend with her father let alone go to a disease filled baseball game.
Both Alex and Arizona had ample opportunity to think while they were separated. Alex was able to let his anger toward Arizona go but he also resolved to not give up on the matter so quickly. He wanted Arizona to at least consider it. Arizona tried to open her mind to the idea while she was relaxing on the couch. She could tell how much it meant to Alex and after he took her to a game earlier in the year she knew how much the Mariners meant to him. She just didn't know if she could get over her fears that Abby would get sick from the outing. Her greatest fear as a mother was Abby getting sick and not being able to do anything to fix her.
...
The next thing Arizona knew, her front door was closing and she could feel feet shuffling toward her. Arizona rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and looked up to see Alex holding out a freshly bathed Abby wrapped up in set of bright pink footie pajamas.
"She's ready for bed. If you want, I can go put her down so you can go to sleep in your bed and not on this crappy couch," Alex handed Abby over knowing that Arizona would want some pre-bed time snuggles with the baby.
Even though Arizona knew that Abby would be up again in a few hours, Arizona still spent a few minutes giving Abby lots of hugs and kisses and whispering her goodnights to the baby. When she was done, Alex scooped the baby up to put her to bed. The parents discovered early on that he had the magic touch when it came to getting her to bed. With Arizona, Abby would try to fight sleep and would only get crankier whereas Alex could have her eyes closed after only a few minutes of story time.
"Arizona," Alex said as soon as he closed the door to the nursery. He was intent on trying one more time with her.
"Alex," Arizona said at the same time.
Alex shut his mouth and decided to let Arizona speak first.
"I really have thought about it but I still don't think it's a good idea," Arizona acknowledged as Alex took a seat on the couch next to her.
"Can I just ask why?" Alex questioned. He just wanted to know why she wasn't for the idea. He knew that she had all these crazy hormones still coursing through her body and he just wanted to know why exactly she thought it wasn't a good idea. It would help him better understand her.
"I get that you want to take her to a baseball game. I really do. But baseball will still be there next season when she's older. She's just still so little. Her immune system is still figuring things out. And you know our daughter - she is ridiculously adorable. Every person that sees her is going to want to touch her and coo over her," Arizona shuddered as she thought about all the germs out there.
"I'm not going to let strangers touch our baby, Arizona. I'll even keep her in the chest carrier most of the time so that way no one could even get close to her," Alex said matter-of-factly. "Plus, you'll be there to give them the mommy-glare if they even try to touch her."
"What about the weather? It's fall in Seattle. It's so unpredictable."
"We'll dress her in layers. And the stadium has a roof so if it does start raining, they close it."
"Baseball games are long," Arizona tried another argument as Alex kept shutting down her other ones.
"So she sleeps through ninety percent of the game. Not a big deal. And we'll have plenty of bottles and diapers for her."
"Exactly! Why bother taking her if she's just going to sleep through it."
"Arizona," Alex sighed and gave her his best puppy dog eyes. "I really want to take her. I never got to do stuff like this with my dad and I want to be able to share these things with her. But it's up to you." Alex decided to leave Arizona with that thought. He knew it was mean but he wanted her to feel guilty.
Arizona watched as Alex got up from the couch. He looked like he was going home which made her sad. The only nights he hadn't spent in the guest room since Abby was born were because he was at the hospital working, "You're not staying tonight?"
Alex grabbed the baby monitor from the table, "I am. Just going to get a head start on sleep. I'll take the first shift tonight."
...
Arizona got a fitful night of sleep. Her mind kept thinking about what Alex said; about how he wanted to share his passion with his daughter. She knew he was trying to make her feel guilty and it worked. When she woke up for the third time that night she decided to go check on Abby since she was already awake. Arizona paused when she heard Alex's voice coming from the nursery.
"We'll watch it on TV," Arizona over heard Alex say. She knew he had to be talking about the baseball came.
Alex was in the rocking chair in the corner, feeding Abby a bottle, "TV isn't the same but it's not so bad. You can't get the smells of the ballpark but you do get the play-by-play which is helpful when you don't know what is going on. And unless you are a genius and remember everything I taught you when Mama and I took you when you were still in her belly then you won't know what is going on."
Arizona knew she shouldn't be listening in to Alex's conversation with Abby. Clearly it was a private moment between father and daughter but she couldn't make her feet move. She couldn't stop listening.
"What else do you want to do this weekend, Bug?" Alex asked his daughter as he watched her finish the last of the bottle. "Maybe we can go to the park. Would you like that? Maybe?" he looked to his daughter for an answer. Abby spit out the bottle and started to whimper. "Is that a no?" he asked as he started to rub her back to get her to burp and relieve some of the gas in her tummy. After a moment Abby let out an exceptionally loud burp and then a tiny smile graced her lips. "I'm taking that as a yes to the park. Maybe Mama will go with us. I know she's going to be missing you lots so even though it's Daddy's weekend we will invite her along. Because you are addictive, Abbs. I know how much I miss you while I'm at work so I can't imagine how hard this weekend will be for Mama. Do you think that's a good idea? If you do give me another burp."
As if on cue, Abby burped again. Alex took the burp rag off of his shoulder and wiped Abby's mouth with it. "Now that that is settled, it's time for you to go back to sleep. I know Mama and I would both appreciate it if you could sleep until our alarms go off in the morning."
When Arizona heard Alex stand up from the rocking chair and move to the crib, she knew she needed to get out of there before being caught by Alex. The guilty feelings that Arizona had been dealing with since she went to bed got only worse after listening in on Alex's middle of the night chat with Abby. She listened to him talk to Abby about not only the baseball game but also about their weekend. She didn't realize how tuned in Alex was to the anxiety she was going to have about Abby's first weekend with her father. Before she drifted off to sleep Arizona realized that it was her turn to do something that would make Alex happy.
...
Alex was very groggy when he woke up in the morning. With two wake-ups by Abby in the middle of the night he had probably only gotten about five hours of sleep. He stumbled out of the guest room that he had taken over since Abby's birth and headed straight for the coffee machine in the kitchen. Before he could even reach the machine, a mug of steaming liquid was shoved in his hand.
"Thought you might need this," Arizona said as she sipped on her own mug of coffee. "Thanks for getting up with her so much last night."
"No problem," Alex grumbled as he took his first sip of coffee. He was always impressed when Arizona knew exactly how he took his coffee - not that he should have been surprised after practically living together for the last month. "Did you get good sleep?"
Arizona nodded in the affirmative even though her sleep hadn't been that great. "She slept until five which is a half hour longer than yesterday so she's making progress."
Alex slipped off of the barstool he was resting on, "I'm going to go say bye before I head off to the hospital."
Arizona smirked as she watched Alex walk into the nursery. Alex came out a few minutes later with a wide awake and wiggly girl in his arms.
Alex looked up at Arizona curiously, trying not to get his hopes up. "Did she have a blowout or something? Why is she not in her pjs?"
Arizona stepped up next to him and gazed down at her daughter who was wearing a pastel pink Seattle Mariners onesie, "Nope, no blowout. I just figured we'd try this outfit out before the game on Sunday. Make sure she likes it."
"Game on Sunday?" Alex raised his eyebrows.
Arizona nodded, "Yep. She's super excited about it. She babbled all morning after I changed her."
"Really?"
Arizona smiled and kissed Alex on the cheek, "Yes. But I do reserve the right to be very overprotective on Sunday. No stranger better think about touching my baby."
"That's okay. We can deal with an overprotective Mama, can't we, Abby?" Alex grinned as he stroked Abby's hair trying to make it not look like crazy bedhead.
"Good," Arizona nodded her head and held out her arms. "Now hand her over or you'll be late for work. I am still your boss even though I'm not actually at work."
"Okay Bug," Alex gave Abby a kissed and gently placed her in Abby's arms. "Be good for Mama today. I love you." Alex went and grabbed his bag from his makeshift room, "I'll bring home dinner, okay?"
Arizona was distracted with the baby but still managed to give Alex an affirmative answer before he headed out the door and off to work.
...
By the time mid-morning arrived on Sunday, Arizona was already dressed and ready to go to the game. She had been up early anxiously awaiting Alex's phone call that would invite her upstairs. It had been the second night without her daughter in her apartment and she was missing her like crazy. She was also slightly worried about her daughter and wanted to make sure she was okay. It wasn't that she didn't trust Alex as a parent it was just that Abby is her baby and she had never spent one night apart let alone two - even if she did get to spend some of Alex's Saturday with them at the park.
So when Alex did call, Arizona was quickly out the door and took the stairs two at a time to make it to his condo as fast as she could.
Alex laughed when Arizona was slightly out of breath as she opened the door. He had been waiting by it, ready to hand Abby off as soon as she arrived. "I think Mama missed you," Alex whispered into her ear before putting her in Arizona's arms.
Arizona snuggled her face into Abby's neck, "Hello Sweetheart. I missed you baby. So much. Did you and Daddy have a good night?" Abby let out a gargle as her mother held her close. "I'll take that as a yes," Arizona said as she looked up to Alex.
"We did. We watched the Mariners on TV to prepare for the game today," Alex smiled. "Speaking of - you look very nice."
Arizona glanced down at her attire. She figured that since she was going to the baseball game she might as well look the part and since she had nothing to do all day on Saturday after their park trip she found herself venturing to the Mariners team store in the mall. "The guy at the store told me that the retro look was in," Arizona said as she spun around to show Alex her old school Mariners jersey.
"First off, it's called a throw-back jersey. And secondly, do you even know who Johnson is?"
Arizona looked up sheepishly, "Uh...no?"
"Randy Johnson. Only one of the best pitchers ever in the MLB. He won five Cy Young awards," Alex started to educate Arizona on just who the man whose name she was wearing on her back was but stopped when he realized that she was paying more attention to the baby in her arms than to him. "And you don't care..."
"What?" Arizona said as she glanced up from staring at Abby's face. "He's a pitcher. Got it." Arizona juggled Abby into one arm and reached into her purse with her free hand, pulling out something pink that she shoved into Alex's hands. "I got this for Abbs. In case it's actually sunny today."
Alex opened up his fist and saw that Arizona had purchased a tiny pink Mariners baseball hat. Alex just laughed to himself when he saw it and walked into his bedroom. When he returned he held two of the same hat in his hands. "Great minds, I guess," he said as he reached out and put the hat on Abby's head.
Abby immediately reached up with her hand and tried to swat it off of her but Arizona pulled her hand away to stop her. "Probably a good idea to have two anyway. I'm thinking this is going to get thrown on the ground a lot if she has her way."
"I'm just going to go change. Didn't want to get spit up on my jersey...so soon at least. I put the onesie out on the dressing table if you want to get Abby changed and her bag is all packed but I know you're going to recheck it anyway. Then we can go?"
...
Alex went all out for Abby's first baseball game. Even though she would never remember it, he made sure to get them good seats. In fact, he got the same seats that he and Arizona had sat in several months earlier. Alex justified the seats by the fact that at only one month old Abby hadn't developed distance vision yet so she needed to be as close to the field as possible to be able to see anything.
"This is awfully close, Alex," Arizona frowned as Alex led them to the familiar seats. "Too close. What if a foul ball comes flying at us?"
Alex took his seat next to Arizona and looked at his daughter in his arms, "Do you really think I'd let a ball hit her? I'm sure both you and I will throw ourselves over her in the rare event a ball came in this direction." Alex grabbed Arizona's hand that was on the arm rest, "Now will you please calm down and relax. You deserve some fun today too, Arizona."
"Fine," Arizona glared at him as she relaxed back into her seat, watching the end of the batting practice on the field as she grabbed a handful of peanuts from the bag that Alex had bought them.
Alex was in heaven as the game got started. Introducing his daughter to his favorite sport was by far the best thing he had done with Abby since she was born. Arizona watched as Abby stared wide-eyed at the baseball field while Alex explained the game to her.
As the first inning wound down, Alex heard a voice that sounded familiar but he couldn't quite place where from.
"Oh Len, look! It's those nice people from earlier in the year. They're back," an elderly woman said as she and an older man walked down the row toward their seats on the opposite side of Arizona.
Once Alex turned his head he recognized that the older couple who sat next to them during the last game was there. The super religious couple that assumed that he and Arizona were married because they were having a baby together. Alex realized that they must be season ticket holders to be in the same seats so many months later.
Arizona gave the older lady a smile as she took her seat next to her.
"Oh my goodness you had your baby!" the older woman exclaimed as she saw the baby in Alex's arms.
"They don't stay in there forever," Arizona said sarcastically earning a smirk from Alex. She immediately felt bad for being snarky but Arizona wasn't a fan of the older couple from their last visit.
"She's so cute," the lady immediately reached out to touch Abby which caused Arizona to instantly sit up in her seat, effectively blocking the woman from her daughter.
Arizona gritted her teeth and smiled tightly.
"Thank you," Alex said trying to diffuse the situation as he placed a calming hand on Arizona's leg. He could see her getting tense as soon as the old bat tried to touch Abby. "We think she's pretty cute too."
Arizona had never been more grateful for the change in innings to be over as the players retook the field. While she wasn't a huge baseball fan, she never found it more interesting as she tried to get the woman next to her to stop talking to her about babies being gifts from God. Eventually, after only getting one word answers, the woman finally gave up trying to talk to her.
Arizona thought that she might have given up trying to talk simply because she was annoyed by Alex's incessant talking throughout the game. He didn't shut up the whole game as he gave Abby the play-by-play. Even Abby surprised Arizona. At the bottom of the fifth inning, Abby was still wide awake and had only just started fussing for the first time.
"She's hungry," Alex said as he passed Abby into her mother's arms for the first time since they arrived at the ballpark.
"Shh," Arizona tried to calm the baby down while Alex grabbed a bottle of water and a bottle already pre-filled with formula to mix together for a meal. "Daddy's getting you a bottle ready, baby."
Abby immediately calmed down as soon as Arizona brought the nipple of the bottle to Abby's mouth.
As Arizona was feeding Abby, the old lady next to her leaned over and spoke into her ear, "You know breast milk really is best."
She didn't say it quiet enough to not be overheard by Alex. This was a topic that had come up a surprising amount of times since Abby was born. Alex didn't understand how people thought that it was appropriate to come up to perfect strangers and criticize their parenting when they knew nothing about the situation. Arizona was much better at letting the topic roll off her back. She would simply ignore people that mentioned breastfeeding but Alex wasn't as tactful as she was.
Alex leaned over Arizona's body to get in the old lady's face, "What gives you the right..."
"Alex," Arizona interrupted, trying to stop him from making a scene. "It's not a big deal."
"I'm just saying that young people these days do what is convenient and not what is best for babies," the old lady tried to defend herself as Alex started attacking her.
Alex gripped Arizona's thigh tightly, "Listen lady. We are both pediatric surgeons. I think we know what is best for our daughter."
"As doctors you should really know better. You should convince your wife that formula is wrong." The lady just wouldn't stop digging a hole with her words.
Alex glanced up at Arizona who only shrugged her shoulders, giving him permission to lay into the ignorant woman next to her. Arizona knew that Alex was upset but that he wouldn't reveal any private details without her permission. At first Arizona wanted to just ignore her but as she kept on going and as she continued to speak down to her, she was more than willing to let Alex lay into her.
"Stop talking because you no idea what you are talking about," Alex cut her off. "Don't you think that my wife would love to be breastfeeding her daughter?" Alex didn't even realize he let the word wife slip but he went with it - it was less complicated. "But she can't because a few years ago she lost both of her breasts to cancer and underwent months and months of chemotherapy and radiation. So yes, our daughter gets formula and I'm fine with that because they both wouldn't be here if it weren't for the drastic measures that saved her life."
Just then Abby finished her bottle and started crying in her mother's arms. Alex was sure that the tone of voice she was hearing him use wasn't helping to calm the baby down.
He gently reached out and took Abby into his arms in an attempt to help calm himself down, "Our daughter is happy and healthy. The fact that she gets formula is none of your business. So if you could just pretend that we're not sitting next to you for the next couple of hours that'd be great."
The woman just sat in shock as Alex berated her. Her mouth opened and closed on its own as she debated saying something to him in response. She was about to apologize when she realized that Alex and Arizona were no longer looking in her direction.
"Thank you," Arizona whispered into Alex's ear as she looped his arm through his on the arm rest. She was grateful to him for sticking up for their family.
Alex huffed, "She's an idiot. Crazy bat-shit old woman doesn't know what she is talking about. Abby is perfect."
Arizona reached out and tickled the baby's tummy, "Yes, she is."
...
The rest of the game passed without incident. Arizona and Alex both refused to even look in the direction of the old woman. Arizona couldn't believe that Abby stayed awake throughout the entire game. It was sure to mess up her sleep schedule for the rest of the day but Arizona couldn't deny that she found the baseball game experience interesting enough to not fall asleep during it.
"She's going to be a baseball girl," Alex declared as they walked through the doorway and into his condo.
"She did seem to enjoy it," Arizona acknowledged as she placed the car seat carrying a passed out Abby on the coffee table.
"Enjoy it?" Alex said excitedly. "She couldn't take her eyes off of the field. She loved it!"
"Yeah, yeah...keep your voice down or you'll wake her up." Arizona paused to think for a moment, "Actually, you're keeping her tonight so you're the one that has to deal with her if she's cranky so be as loud as you want."
"Gee, thanks, Robbins," Alex said sarcastically.
Arizona hovered over her sleeping daughter and gave her a kiss on the lips, careful not to wake her. "I guess I better get going. Let you two have your night."
Alex could tell that Arizona didn't want to leave just yet and truthfully, he didn't want her to leave either. It was only five in the evening and he had learned over the last day and a half with Abby on his own that newborns were actually pretty boring.
"Stay," Alex said quickly before Arizona could leave. "I mean, if you want. Unless you have something planned. But if you don't you should stay. We'll order pizza and watch a movie or something." Alex looked up to see Arizona still standing at his door, staring at him, realizing that she probably wanted to be alone. "But you probably want some baby-free time. I won't keep you."
Arizona gave a soft smile, "Only if I get to pick the pizza toppings."
Alex threw his cell phone at her, "Sure. You order."
Alex groaned when he heard Arizona order a pineapple pizza. She had become addicted to it while she was pregnant, a taste that Alex hoped she would give up when Abby was born but it didn't appear to be the case. Once the pizza arrived, Alex, Arizona and a sleeping Abby enjoyed the first of many family-time Sundays.
...