Thank you for clicking on this story and giving it a shot. Please give it a couple chapters to see if you like it or not. I know the beginning is a little rough around the edges, I'm looking into seeing if I can fix it up a little bit. Any feedback is welcome, even constructive critisism. If you want to get nasty in the review and tell me it sucks, it is definitely your right, I just ask that you explain why you think it sucks or you just leave the story. Nothing is making you review. Know that I plan on finishing this story and negative reviews will be taken into account on how well you have based your opinion. I enjoy writing for myself and enjoy putting the characters in different situations to see how they will react. Sorry in advance if any of them seem out of character, just remember this is an AU and they have had different experiences to shape them into who they are, though I've tried to keep them as close as possible. Also remember that if I was really good at writing, I'd be a professional, so just keep that in mind if you plan on writing a nasty reveiw (which this site is known for).
Have a good day and enjoy!
Chapter 1
"Come on Arizona! We're going to be late!" Calliope Torres yelled through the apartment to try and hurry her girlfriend along.
Arizona Robbins rolled her eyes and stuck her head out her bedroom door. "I told you that I would meet you at Joe's. You didn't have to come to my apartment just to watch me change."
Callie watched blond hair disappear into the bedroom and walked down the short hallway, "Maybe I like watching you change." She replied loud enough for Arizona to hear.
Standing in the doorway, Callie watched as Arizona hopped around, trying to get her skinny jeans on. She bit her lip in thought.
"Arizona," Callie spoke softly and waited for Arizona to look at her, "move in with me."
Callie watched as Arizona's movements froze and she started to doubt herself.
"I mean only if you want to. It's just we've been together for almost nine months and well we are almost always
together anyways either here or at my apartment and why should we both be paying rent when we can just move in together. We don't even have to choose either of our places, we can look for a new place. Our place. Ya know?"
"Callie..." Arizona spoke softly, regret in her eyes.
"You know what, never mind. Forget I even said anything. You ready to go?" Callie rambled, then checked Arizona over to see if she was fully changed.
"Callie, it's not-"
"No, really, don't worry about it. Nine months even isn't that long." Callie said, slowly backing up away from the bedroom. Arizona quickly finished pulling on her pants, wanting to talk to Callie face to face about this. "I mean it's long enough to grow a baby in your womb- no, you know what? It was stupid, never mind. I'm just going to wait down in the car. Take your time." Callie fully turned around and made her way towards the door.
"Callie, wait!" Arizona called, making a quick dash to grab her shoes then chase after Callie, hoping to catch her before she got to the hallway. "Please just stop."
Arizona lightly grabbed Callie's arm just as she opened the door and both woman jumped when they realized someone was on the other side.
Standing there in the hallway stood a pretty brunette. A couple inches taller than Arizona and a few years older.
"Candace..." Arizona whispered, "Wha...what are you doing here?"
"I've been trying to contact you for a couple weeks now. I didn't know that you moved and changed your number."
Arizona glanced over at Callie who was watching the interaction intently and realized what she could be mistaken this for. "Um...now's not really a good time."
"I really need to talk to you, Arizona. It's about-"
"Listen, why don't I give you a call in the morning?" Arizona cut her off, knowing Candace was only here about one thing and she didn't want Callie to know about it.
"No...no why don't you stay." Callie spoke softly, squeezing by Candace so she could leave the apartment. "I was just leaving anyways."
"Come on Callie, we need to talk about this."
"Looks like you have other more important things to talk about actually." Callie responded, eyes gliding towards Candace then turning and walking towards the stairs.
Arizona watched her leave and the looked at Candace, debating which one she should talk to first.
She knew she should follow Callie to talk to her as soon as possible because that conversation had obviously disappointed Callie and Arizona felt bad about how the whole thing played out.
Then there was Candace. For her to be here, it meant that it was important. Even if Arizona had changed her address and phone number, it wouldn't have been that hard to call her when she found out the new information. For the woman to take the trip here, meant it had to be something important.
Arizona focused on Candace and decided to get this over with.
Stepping aside to let Candace in, she let out a sigh, "Why don't you come in?" Arizona said, then glanced once more the way that Callie left knowing that she would definitely have to call Callie or go find her and talk about what happened here.
Callie sat at the bar, looking into her shot. She was looking forward to going to the bar tonight, spending some much needed time with Arizona since their shifts have been conflicting for the last couple of weeks.
Now though, she just wanted to go home and sleep. The thought of sitting here by herself, drinking excessively because her girlfriend didn't want to move in and a lady... a pretty lady showed up at her girlfriends door just seemed to bring her down even more, so Callie drank the shot, stood up and made her way towards the door.
"Callie!"
Looking over to the sound of her name, Callie seen the group that her and Arizona were supposed to be meeting here. Not really in the mood to socialize with anyone, she raised an arm in acknowledgement then left the bar.
"Hey Callie, hold on."
Looking over her shoulder, Callie watched as Teddy caught up to her.
"Hey, aren't you going to come have some drinks with us? The next round is on Bailey. Where's Arizona?"
"She's at her place. I'm not really in the mood for this tonight. I think I'm just going to head home and get some sleep. I'll see you tomorrow at work, okay?" Callie said, starting to walk again.
"Why don't you come in and have one drink with me? My treat. We'll sit at the bar and if you want to talk, I'm here to listen. If not, drinking in silence is alright with me also."
Teddy watched as it looked like Callie was going to decline, so she continued, "It just looks like you could use a friend right now. If you want we could just go to your place and talk. Open a bottle of wine and just have a nice quiet girls night at your place."
"Yeah, yeah that sounds good. Thanks, Teddy." Callie agreed, looking at the other surgeon. Teddy had always been closer to Arizona, but she wasn't going to turn away someone to talk to, especially someone who knew her girlfriend almost as well as she herself did.
"Not a problem. Let me just run back in and grab my purse and jacket and I'll be right back."
"So, do you want to talk about it?" Teddy asked, once they got settled on the couch each with a glass of wine.
"I asked Arizona to move in with me. Well together. I rambled a bit, something about getting a place of our own if she wanted to."
"That's so exciting." Teddy exclaimed, with a smile.
"You would think, right? The question came out of my mouth and she froze. She just froze, Teddy. It seemed like she had never even thought of the possibility of moving in. I didn't really give her time to say no, she had regret in her eye and thats all I needed to know that she didn't want to move in."
"Callie, I'm so sorry."
"I told her to forget I even asked. Told her I was going to just wait in the car when she finished getting ready. Give myself a minute to get over the disappointment, you know?" At Teddy's nod, she continued, "When I opened the door to leave, there was a woman there. A pretty woman who didn't know that she had moved or changed her number. A woman that Arizona was surprised to see and let me tell you, she turned pale. Arizona turned pale."
"I'm sure it's nothing, Callie." Teddy tried to assure Callie, but to be honest Teddy herself didn't really know Arizona. Sure they were friends, but Arizona definitely kept a part of herself a secret. "Do you know that when Arizona came to Seattle Grace about a year ago, she didn't even want to make friends. I tried becoming friends with her and sure, she was friendly, but there is always a part of her that is closed off. A part of her that I could never get to. Even to this day, I know there are topics that she won't discuss. Maybe it's different with you, maybe you were able to get her to open up a little more, but you guys are very different regarding how you approach people and life."
"I know. I get that she is reserved, I still don't know much about her past, but I love her Teddy. I was hoping to take that next step in our relationship and it's just a blow that she never seemed to even think about that next step. Maybe I was putting too much into this relationship."
Two hours later and a bottle of wine gone, Callie had finally passed out after crying her heart out to Teddy. As Teddy grabbed the wine glasses and the empty bottle to clean up a little, she thought of her friend and what was going on. Teddy knew Arizona loves Callie, but she's not sure why Arizona would hesitate on moving in with her. After straightening up, Teddy took one last look at the sleeping brunette, mascara dried on her cheeks and mouth hanging open.
Teddy placed the blanket from the back of the couch on Callie and went to the spare bedroom. She wasn't drunk and could've just gotten a cab to go home, but she didn't want Callie to be alone tomorrow morning, just in case.
"What's going on Candace?" Arizona asked the woman once they were seated in the living room.
"I'm not sure how to say this, but Richard and Aurora died."
Arizona felt the shock hit her, and then the denial, "No, they can't be. They were just here a couple months ago. I was supposed to go down there this weekend. Oh god, Lilly? Dash?"
"They're fine. They weren't in the car when it happened."
"What happened?"
"They were driving home from the theater when they were in a car accident. It was a multi-car, the semi driver wasn't paying attention and rear-ended them, after that it was a chain reaction. Three others were injured, but Richard and Aurora were the only fatalities."
"Where are Lillian and Dash?" Arizona asked quietly, her chest tight with emotion.
"Richard and Aurora didn't have any living family and we couldn't get into contact with you, so right now they are in foster care. We were able to keep them together, but it's only temporary. The foster family took them in under urgent, but they can't handle two more kids, especially hyper toddlers."
"Candace, what are you saying?"
After a deep breath, the social worker continued, "The state currently has custody of the kids, but according to their will, if they were both to die at the same point in time, they have named someone to take care of the kids." she looked expectantly at Arizona, hoping she would connect the dots.
"What? No! They didn't even ask me." Arizona exclaimed, standing up and started to pace.
"Listen Arizona, they didn't have family. Richard was an only child and Aurora had a sister, but she died when she was younger. Both of their parents are already deceased. They had friends, but I guess none that they trusted to raise the twins."
"Why would they even do that? I gave the twins up for adoption for a reason, Candace. They should've talked to me about this."
"They probably thought it wouldn't be needed. They did it as a precaution so the kids were taken care of if something should happen."
"I'm in no better position now than I was almost two years ago to raise those kids. I gave them up for a reason. A very good reason."Arizona repeated, not believing that this was actually happening.
"Listen, I know how hard it was for you during that time. I was with you, but you chose an open adoption for a reason. Your reasons for adoption were valid, of course, but you wanted to know that your children were being taken care of. You cared about the welfare of those kids when they were still in your womb. You interviewed dozens of couples before you decided on the Barrington's. They had no family, so the only family those children have now is you-"
"You can't guilt trip me into this, Candace. That's not fair." Arizona said, sitting back down on the couch.
Candace reached over and grabbed her hand, "I'm not guilt tripping you. I'm giving you the facts. Lilly and Dash have no one in this world except for you. The open adoption let them get to know you. I'm not sure if they fully understand at three years old, but besides you these kids have no one. Once their urgent foster care is over, I can try my hardest to keep them together, but it's hard to find someone to take on two foster kids at once, especially when they are toddlers." Candace took a deep breath then continued, "Listen, why don't you try to take a couple weeks off and come down to Longview and spend some time with the twins. It'll be good for them to see a familiar face. I think they need that right now."
Arizona closed her eyes and thought of the twins. Almost four years ago, she interviewed Richard and Aurora and at first glance, she wasn't sure they were the right people to adopt her babies, but once they started talking, Arizona found that although they had an obscene amount of money, they were down to earth and after years of trying, decided that adoption would be their best chance at having a baby. They said they believed in hands on parenting and at no point hire someone to care for the kids. They were willing to be full-time parents to whichever child or children that they were blessed with. At first she wanted a closed adoption, but throughout her pregnancy, she spoke often with Aurora about things and Aurora was the one to bring up an open adoption and to keep an open mind about it. Aurora wanted the twins to be able to know of any siblings they had in a the future. It was important to her that the twins understood where they came from and that they were loved enough that their mother gave them up to give them the best life she could hope for them.
"Where are you staying tonight? I'll need to call and see if I can get time off of work. I can't promise anything though."
"That's all I ask for, Arizona. Just go and see them, let them know that someone is still in their life that knows them and really cares for them." Standing up, Candace started making her way to the door, "I'm staying at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel. I'll be there for a couple of days at most or until you are able to leave." Candace looked Arizona in the eyes, "I know this is hard and if you want we can talk more about what the options are and what the outcomes may be for each decision, but thank you for trying to figure this out. I know it's no guarentees, but thank you." she finished, handing Arizona her card.
Arizona nodded, "I'll be in touch with you tomorrow." she said, watching Candace walk down the hallway and feeling dread once again and watching another person walk away tonight, but for a totally different reason. Making her way into her bedroom, Arizona reached for her phone and decided to call the Chief to see if she could get a couple weeks off and switch around any of her non-emergent surgeries.
TBC