A short fic at the moment, at least 3 chapters maybe more. It's based on spoilers from what I've seen for upcoming episodes. I really hope the show has a good outcome planned! I hope you enjoy it :)
Arizona's point of view.
I never thought it would come down to this.
I blindly recommended Penny for the Preminger Grant. It's a year in New York and we all know she's qualified enough for it. Perfect, pretty Penny. The whole hospital is practically in love with her, even Shepherd and Grey who despised her. I don't even hate her, she's seems to make Callie happy and from what I've seen she's even great with my own daughter. That's not to say I hate the idea of her.
So I'll admit it, I jumped at the chance to send Penny away, maybe a little too eagerly when Bailey asked for my recommendation. Honestly, I thought this would be the best thing all round, that way perfect Penny got to have her dream grant and I could work in this hospital for a year without seeing my exes new girlfriend everywhere I go. Callie and Penny – if their love was so strong it could survive a year. No doubt Callie could visit her, for even a few weeks at a time if she wished. She owned part of the hospital so I'm sure Bailey would have no problem with giving her the time off. No one would, not if the time off was to see perfect Penny.
But what I hadn't imagined, that fateful day in the hospital lockdown when I ironically got trapped with my ex-wife, what I hadn't imagined is that Callie was thinking of relocating to be with Penny. Perfect Penny was worth relocating for. Even though Callie didn't have a job opportunity out there, like she did when I received the Carter Madison grant. I don't want to be picky, that was a long time ago and if I hadn't come back from Africa, I would never have been there for the birth of my daughter. Who would have thought that six years on, my daughter is the only source of joy in my life?
So anyway, back to being stuck in lockdown. A kid had gone missing and Callie and I were discussing a play date that Sofia had, despite my previous concerns as to how her last playdate ended, when she dropped a bombshell on me.
"I…I need to talk to you about something" she bit her lip, the same way she always does when there's something big to tell. My heart is pounding, my stomach is lurching and my hands are beginning to go clammy because deep down I know the news she's about to give me and hearing it out loud is going to terrify me.
"You cannot be serious" I reply, a little harsher than what I intended.
"You haven't heard what I'm going to say" Callie responded, confused.
"So it doesn't have anything to do with perfect Penny or the Preminger grant then?" I reply, my cheeks flushing because I realised I just referred to Penny as perfect, sarcastically in front of her own girlfriend.
"I thought you liked Penny" Callie shoots back.
"I…" I trail off because I have nothing to say. "Callie if you dare think about relocating my baby for a year…"
"She's my daughter too" Callie responds.
"She's our daughter, she deserves to be with BOTH of us" I laugh because I can't believe that Callie is considering moving across the country to be with a woman she's known all of five minutes. A woman who our daughter has just met. Not to mention the woman Callie was reluctant to let our daughter meet just a couple of weeks ago.
"I forbid it" I tell Callie. "If you want to go and move across the country to be with Penny fine, that's on you but Sofia stays with me"
"I don't think so" Callie stands up and she's in my face and I can smell that oh so familiar scent of perfume that she always wore when we were together. I shut my eyes, wishing that she wasn't saying all of this horrible stuff with me, hoping, praying even that I'll wake up and find out it was all going to be a nightmare. "She's my daughter too, we can work something out, you can take her for the holidays" she offers as if that's going to make me feel any better.
"No, Calliope no" I blurt out, realising I called her by her full name, probably for the first time since the divorce. "And you can't do long distance with your girlfriend because?"
"It wouldn't work" Callie replies. "I love her" she offers some pathetic excuse as if I'm going to melt and agree to hand my daughter over to live in New York for a year.
"Wasn't it just a couple of weeks ago when you threw me under the bus?" I reply calmly. I don't have the energy to shout and scream really loudly. All I want is to make her see that moving our child out of a place and a school that she knows and loves to go to New York for one year so her mom's new girlfriend work's her ass off and barely spends any time with the pair of them, is completely and utterly irrational. But Callie, we may have been divorced for two years but I know her well. She's moving too quickly, too quickly that she herself may not be aware of the repercussions. "Have you talked to Sofia about this?" I ask, a sudden terrifying thought coming to my mind. If she already has and Sofia wants to go then that would make things ten, no a hundred times worse.
"No" Callie shook her head. "I wanted to talk to you first"
"How considerate" I mutter sarcastically. "Well my answer is no"
"I'm trying to make things easier for you here Arizona" she glances at me as I pace around the room wondering why she isn't understanding that my answer will never not be a no.
"By trading off who gets our child for most of the year and who gets her in the holidays?" I laugh. "Sounds like a fair deal"
"It's a great opportunity" She tells me. I know it is, I know receiving a prestigious grant is a great opportunity.
"I know" I reply through gritted teeth. "Trust me, I know" I stare at her and I know that she knows that I am referring to when I found out I received the Carter Madison grant. "Callie why are you doing this?" I reply, my voice is beginning to break because I can see just how serious she is about uprooting Sofia's whole life. "She's my baby too, she calls me mama" the tears begin to fall from my cheeks and Callie just stares at me the whole time.
Callie doesn't respond and I'm too choked up to argue anymore. I sit in the corner of the room and wait for lock down to pass. I know that I won't let Sofia go, how can I let the one thing that makes me happy disappear from my life? I could never let that happen.
Finally, lockdown passes. I haven't spoken anymore to Callie and she hasn't to me either. I want to rush out but her arm on my shoulder stops me.
"You can have her tonight" she offers me a night with my child with a huge smile on my face like it's some great reward that I should be utterly grateful for. I know she's doing it to try and sweeten me up. I could have every night with Sofia before she left for New York and my answer would still be no.
"Thanks" I mutter, desperate to get out of that room and get away from her because I am so angry. Tears are still falling down my face and it isn't long before I find April, the girl who I need most at this time.
"I got stuck on lockdown with Jackson and guess how awkward that was" she tells me, presumably not seeing how much of a mess I am. "It was the worst thing" she moans before looking over at me. "What happened?" she asked, with a concerned tone to her voice. "Arizona?" she strokes my arm gently and the tears only fall harder.
"Callie" I stutter as I feel April's arms around me.
"What happened, sweetie?" I hear her as she hugs me closer to her.
"She's taking Sofia away" I gulp taking deep breaths to try and calm myself down. "April she's taking my baby"
April doesn't respond but I can feel her hugging me just a little bit tighter. I can hear two voices around the corner. They're easily recognisable. Callie and Penny. My name is mentioned a lot.
"Arizona didn't take it well" Callie tells Penny.
"I doubted she would" Penny says. April and I glance at each other both of us eager to know what they're talking about.
"I just hope we get her on board" Callie responds. "We've just got to this amazing place and New York sounds cool" she says. I hate the tone of her voice when she talks to Penny. There's nothing real about that. I'm a little uplifted when I realise she's talking in the same tone she used whenever I talked about Africa. The insincerity in her voice, surely Callie is having some form of doubts about this. She owns a hospital, she earns a great salary, has a great house and a great lot of friends. I don't know how special Penny is, but there are plenty more fish in the sea and Callie could have them all if it meant she wouldn't take my daughter away from me.
The voices fade away because their pagers both sound again so April and I are left alone.
"She can't be serious" April is angry, at least she's showing it. I realise how pathetic I was during lockdown, not having the energy to fight even though I felt that my blood was boiling.
"I don't know what to do" I dry my eyes and glance up at April.
"You have rights" April tells me. "She can't move your child across the country"
"So what I have to take her to court?" I ask, a little surprised by this. I always thought Callie and I would be in a good enough place to not have to fight for custody over Sofia. But it turns out I was wrong about that and if Callie is serious about this whole thing, maybe I will have to consider my rights as Sofia's parent.
"Callie seems pretty certain" April tells me. "When does the grant start again?"
"About 2 months" I respond, shutting my eyes. If Callie is serious about taking Sofia away and if April tells me to go to court and I lose, then 2 months is all I have left with my daughter before her next school holidays. This crushes me and I realise that if Callie is certain about taking Sofia away then I am just as certain about keeping her in Seattle.
"I need to find a lawyer who specialises in child custody cases" I blurt out, typing away on my phone. It isn't long before google gives me some answers and I'm put in contact with a lawyer who's supposedly had great success in child custody cases. I'm nervous when he comes to the phone and maybe this is all a big mistake, Callie doesn't even sound sure that she wants to go. But I take a deep breath, I can't take any chances, I have to fight for what's mine.
"Hi would you like to make an appointment to see John Williams?" the secretary asks. I nod, realising this is stupid because the secretary cannot physically see me.
"Yes" I whisper, my voice is hoarse from all the shouting and all the crying.
"Okay sweetheart" the woman responds and I can tell she's pitying me because of the way I sound on the phone. "I have Wednesday at 10am?"
"That's fine" I whisper again. I have a light day that day anyway and Karev can take charge if there's any emergency cases.
"Great, what's the name?" she asks.
"Arizona. Arizona Robbins" I mumble.
"Pretty name" she compliments me. It makes me feel a little better and makes me forget that I'm on the phone booking an appointment with a lawyer over getting custody over Sofia. I smile.
"Thank you" I reply.
"So I have you all booked in for 10am on Wednesday. You can look online for the documents you have to bring"
"Okay"
"And Arizona?" the woman says my name just as the call is about to end.
"Yes?" I reply.
"You're in good hands. John Williams is the best" she tells me before the line goes dead.