CHAPTER TWO

PART FOUR

A/N: So, I must apologize to everyone for screwing up, but I forgot to add this last installment of chapter two before posting chapter three. It'll explain a lot of loose ends and confusions because we did reference things and have reoccurring themes. I'm sorry for being dumb. But, at least you get a double dose of little Juliet!

Finally back in the comfort of their own bed, door slightly ajar just in case, Callie held Arizona firmly against her, their tangled limbs wound tightly in the middle of the bed, comfortably unsure where one began and the other ended.

Perfection.

Running her fingers through Arizona's blonde curls, Callie had to smile when she heard a soft, complacent sigh escape somewhere around her stomach. "Is it terrible that I'm looking forward to when Jules starts going to school full time so we can both work the same schedules and get lots more of this? I miss this."

"Of course not," Arizona sighed once more, closing her eyes and letting herself melt further into Callie's embrace. "I am definitelylooking forward to more of this. And, let's be honest here, she's probably looking forward to it too. She spends at least an hour every Saturday morning moping around because there's no school."

"Mmm no more week long night shifts for either of us. So nice." Callie paused when Arizona tensed up just slightly under her touch. "What was that for?"

"Can we just..." she trailed off, shaking her head and burrowing her nose into the soft skin of Callie's stomach, allowing her mind to be cleared by the intoxicating scent. "Not talk about the night shifts?"

Furrowing her brow, Callie shifted a little to put even an inch of distance between them so Arizona would know she was a little less than thrilled at the avoidance tactic. "I suppose. Even though I didn't exactly say anything about them."

"No, you didn't," Arizona agreed carefully, lifting herself up and leaning on her elbow to give Callie a pointed stare. "But you would be going there if I hadn't stopped you. And I can't talk about that right now."

Shaking her head slightly with a frown, Callie took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Alright then, but if you think I can't tell something is bothering you, you'd be wrong."

Arizona sighed, settling her head against Callie's stomach once more, and traced light, indistinguishable patterns over the skin at her hip. "Nothing is bothering me right now. I'm perfectly comfortable being so wrapped up in you like this. Figuratively and...otherwise. So, let's just...enjoy that."

Callie knew Arizona better than she probably knew herself, cliche or not, and she knew that not talking about what was on her mind would eventually drain her and eat her alive. She also knew, if she pushed her, it'd result in an argument and probably one of them waking up alone. Which wasn't an option. So, Callie merely sighed and resumed the downward trickling of her fingers through the blonde's curls, not speaking a word, knowing full well that the silence would kill her eventually.

Arizona was conflicted, and she strongly disliked that feeling. She liked to know things, certainly and without question, and so it frustrated her to feel torn. But being in a relationship with Calliope Torres usually meant at least some emotional guesswork, and this was no exception. Her girlfriend was not one to simply back down from a discussion, and the fact that she had, meant she was trying to manipulate it to her advantage. She knew that Arizona couldn't handle her silence, which made Arizona thatmuch more inclined to suffer through it.

Unfortunately, she realized as she exhaled in an annoyed huff against her lover's skin, Callie had been right. "I hate working the night shift, and then I hatethinking about it enough to talk about it. Okay?"

"I didn't say anything, Arizona. I'm lying here, running my fingers through your hair, trying to comfort you since you obviously had a bad right, evident from earlier, and evident now."

"I know, I know it's not your fault," she whispered, wrapping her arm around Callie's waist and squeezing her closer. "But I don't think I'm going to stop whining about it until I've gone to sleep and this day is officially over."

"So, whine away. Or go to sleep. I'm here for either. But, you can't expect me to not care or not ask. Because that's what you do when someone you love has a bad day. You show up and have a conversation. I showed up. That's the best I can do."

Arizona simply smiled in response as she pressed a soft kiss just below Callie's belly button, murmuring into her skin. She didn't need to say anything else. "Mm. Thank you."

"Of course, sweetie. So, are we sleeping then? Because your daughter is a ridiculous ball of energy and has more of your perky disposition than I thought was ever imaginable. You two are exhausting." She smirked slightly and poked Arizona in the shoulder.

"Well, you'd think that after five years, you would have built up a tolerance by now."

"Yeah, you'd think. I'll never get sick of it though. I love hers as much as I loved yours when we first started dating."

"Mhm," she smiled, repositioning her body closer to the top of the bed with her back pressed tightly against Callie's front. "I love you. Now...shhh."

"Mmm warm. Warm is nice. Sweet dreams, beautiful."

Arizona nodded, reaching back and grabbing Callie's wrist to wrap her arm around her body, lacing their fingers together and placing a kiss on the back of her hand. It couldn't have been more than ten minutes, however, before she heard frantic little feet shuffling down the hall in the direction of their bedroom.

Without a peep, Juliet ran at full speed into the room, pushing the door roughly at her entrance, and forgetting completely to never let doors hit the wall when they're opened. Both lifting their heads in shock and slight worry, they watched as their daughter sprinted to Arizona's side of the bed and stopped dead in her tracks, breathing heavily, hands frantically searching the comforter for an opening she could crawl under.

"Juliet? What's wrong?"

"I had the bad dream again."

"Aww sweetie, c'mere. The bad one? Or the really bad one?"

"The really bad one. The end of the world one." She buried her face into Arizona's chest, relaxing slightly at the feeling of her mother's hand rubbing soothing circles against her back. "I woke up too early...I wanted to finish it this time."

"Do you think that if you finish it, it'll stop coming back?"

"Not really," she shrugged, pulling away from the hug and looking earnestly into Arizona's eyes. "It was just...interesting."

"Wanna tell me about it, baby? Or do you just wanna try and go back to sleep in here with us?"

"I'll stay here," she murmured sleepily, peeking over Arizona's shoulder to look for Callie, just to make sure she was in the bed with them too. "If the world's gonna end again, I want to be next to you."

Arizona almost cried as the little body snuggled in closer, reaching up and tightly tugging on her mother's soft cotton tank top. She kissed the top of Juliet's head, closing her eyes with a smile at the feeling of Callie's lips pressed against the back of her neck, and fleetingly thought that there was no way she could possibly feel more complete than in that exact moment.

Callie smiled and shuffled in a little closer to the two most important people in her life, placing a gentle kiss on Arizona's neck, and softly whispered against her ear.

"When her world is gonna end, she wants your arms around her." And if hers were to end, she could think of nowhere as perfect as well.

"Okay, kiddo." Callie said as she walked hand in a hand outside the bakery with Jules the next morning. "Do you think Mama will be awake? Or are we gonna have to jump on her to wake her up?"

Grasping the smaller of the two boxes, which housed six glazed doughnut holes, Jules looked up with wide eyes and a smile. "Mom, it's not nice to wake people up by jumping on them. You know how much Mama hates that. We'll get in trouble if we do it that way!"

"Yeah, you're right. She does hate that. Hmm. How do you think we should wake her up if she's still sleeping? It's already close to ten-thirty and we have a fun day at the park all planned out. She needs to get her butt outta bed."

Jules crunched her features, deep in an over-exaggerated thought. "Well. She likes doughnut. Maybe if we sit them on your side of the bed she'll smell them and wake up happy! Then we'll get kisses and snuggles instead of yelling. I like those better."

"You and me both, kiddo. And maybe, if you're extra special good, I'll let you have a few bites out of a sprinkled one in the car, even though that's your mom secret favorite. Deal?"

"Do I still get my holes when we're at home? 'Cause they're my favorite."

"Sure, you can have your holes, and you and I will split a sprinkled one on the way there. Now, hop up in your seat and buckle yourself in so we can get this show on the road."

Callie smiled as she watched Jules climb up into the booster chair and work the buckle. They'd discovered a long time ago that if they let her work the contraption on her own, she wouldn't fuss about being in one, nor would she try to get out. She was tiny for her age; you'd think she'd have the body of a three-or-four-year-old, but the brain of a thirty-year-old. Which was oddly perfect, because they could still cuddle her with ease andhave a normal full length conversation with her. She was too perfect for her own good

Opening the passenger side door, Callie placed the boxes on the seat, opening the largest and breaking a rainbow-sprinkled one into thirds. Wrapping one of them in a napkin, she handed it to her daughter and couldn't help the huge grin that appeared seeing how big her eyes got with excitement. You'd think she was just handed a diamond ring. "Don't make a mess, remember you gotta keep the napkin under it so the sprinkles don't go all over the car."

Jules nodded with excitement as Callie closed the door, hopped in, and pulled out of the parking lot. "I remember Mom. But all the bounces are making it really hard to keep the sprinkles trapped in."

Truthfully, Callie didn't care, it was more fun to watch Jules alternate between trying to corral them with her tongue in the napkin, and picking tiny bites off the doughnut itself. Mess or not, that kid was adorable.

Walking into the house twenty minutes later, breakfast boxes in hand, Callie threw the keys in the designated bowl with a long drawn out sigh. Jules had a sudden burst of energy from the sprinkles, apparently, as she sprinted around the living room with her hands over her mouth, a muffled humming of a song they'd heard on the radio echoing in her wake as she did so loudly into her palm. At least she was being courteous of Arizona, who was likely still asleep in the bedroom.

After the night before, their emotional revelations...and their 'fun' on the stairs, Callie had woken up with Jules around seven thirty, fully intent on letting the blonde sleep the rest of the day if need be. They'd had plans to spend the afternoon in the park, have a picnic, watch Jules play and catch up on some light reading, but from what Callie could gather about her night at work, Arizona needed the break. It was actually Jules who questioned if Arizona had been still been sad after trick-or-treating, and when Callie tried to explain once again, she was already formulating a plan and didn't hear a word of it.

"Mom! I have an idea! You know how when Mama's sad she likes to eat a bunch of doughnut and pretend they're not bad for you? How 'bout we go and get her some so she won't be sad anymore when she wakes up?"

"Hm that's a good idea sweetie. You tiptoe upstairs and get some clothes on, don't bother your mother, and creep down here as quietly as you can. Then we'll go and get some breakfast for all three of us and we'll start a fire and watch cartoons while we wait for your mama to wake up. But you've gotta be extra super quiet when you're up there. Like a stealthy alley cat, remember?"

Jules leaned into Callie and pressed her whole body flush against her arm and put her face right up next to the side of her mom's in a too loud for so close 'whisper'. "I can bereally quiet, Mom. So quiet not even you'll be able to hear me. And then we'll get doughnut and listen to the radio with the sax-e-phonies and the big body guitars and then we'll come home and watch," she scrunched her face. "Oh! Can we watch my Jetsons and Casperand Flinstones DVDs that Mama bought for me from a long time ago when you were little? And can we start the fire now? Please Mom?"

Callie laughed. "Sweetie, we've gotta get the doughnut before we make the fire, and of course, you can watch whatever cartoons you want for as long as you want, until your Mama wakes up. But. On two conditions. You gotta be extra super secretive upstairs, and you've gotta snuggle with me under the big red blanket while we watch. Do those sound like acceptable terms?"

"Oh yes, I like the sounds of your terms Mom. I'm gonna go now and be super quiet and get my clothes on. You should go and see if Mama is still asleeping so we'll know if she can come and snuggle with us too."

"Ready? On your mark..." Callie whispered close to her ear, turning the little blonde in the opposite direction. "Get set..."

"Go!" Jules projected in a loud whisper, taking off down the hall. Stopping at the base of the stairs, she turned and brought her finger to her mouth and shushed in Callie's direction with a soft giggle as she crawled silently up the steps to her bedroom.

"Mom! Is Mama asleep still? I wanna snuggle and watch cartoooooons now and eat my doughnut holes!"

"Jules. She's still asleep. You need to use your quiet voice. Here's a doughnut. Half for each hand, go sit on the couch and wait for me to come downstairs. If you want her to be in a good mood, you need to keep quiet for just a little longer so I can go wake her up, okay?"

"Buuut Mom, I wanna come with you. So I can show her her what we brought her and tell her it was my idea because it was! Let me go with you, please?" She whined.

"Well, you go sit on the couch, eat your food, watch onecartoon, and then you can come up with a sprinkled one to surprise her. But you have to be a little patient. We want her to be happy for the park and for snuggling, right?"

"But, Mom!"

"No buts, kiddo. Now, you should think about which hand is better to start with. I bet you can't guess which one is my favorite half. Think about that for a while. Which one would I choose, and which one your mama would choose. But remember, you only get half for each hand at a time, so, make each half count, okay?"

Hopping up onto the couch, two halves clutched tightly in both hands, Jules looked back and forth from each piece, quietly contemplating which half either of her mothers would choose. It was certainly a complex decision, and she wanted to make it the right one. "You'd pick the left, Mom. I know it."

"Well, you may be right, or you may be wrong, but what happens if your Mama wants the left too? You can't have two lefts. You sit there and try and figure it out, and once you do, you come up to my bedroom with Mama's sprinkled one that's on the table there wrapped in a paper towel and join us. Think hard Jules!"

Making her way up the stairs to their master bedroom, Callie pressed the door open, walked in, and closed the door behind her, hoping that if Jules got bored with herself or the cartoons, the barrier would deter her long enough for a few minutes of quiet snuggling before the chaos of the day began. Tiptoeing across the hardwood floor, Callie pulled the blankets down and snuck in quickly, cautious neither to disrupt Arizona, nor let all the warmth escape from under the covers. Scooting closer and reaching her left arm around the blonde's waist, she settled in behind her and allowed her body to melt into the peace of the moment.

Lingering somewhere in that surreal place between dreaming and awake, Arizona vaguely registered the feeling of Callie sliding into bed behind her and wrapping her in an embrace. She hesitantly allowed her body to creep closer to consciousness, knowing that she neverhad a chance to sleep late, but also knowing that it was the best way to simply enjoy being with her girlfriend. She slowly shifted to her other side facing into Callie's body, her eyes remaining closed, throwing her arm over Callie's hip and pressing a kiss to her shoulder. "Mm. Good morning."

"Very good. Did you have sweet dreams?" Callie closed her eyes and relished in the warmth of the cocoon Arizona had created, as well as the warmth of having her so damnclose again. God, she missed this.

"If I did, I don't remember them," she murmured quietly, burying her nose in Callie's neck and inhaling deeply. "Did you?"

"I don't remember what time Jules came running in here, but she was certainly up not long after. Well before the sun, which...she needs to notbe a morning person like you, it'd make things much more awesome for me in terms of letting you sleep if she wasn't a raging ball of energy at seven in the morning."

"No one said parenting would be easy, Calliope," she grinned, giving her a short, soft kiss on the lips. "Especiallyat seven in the morning."

"Says the girl who got to sleep in until eleven thirty, which, I have never seen you do."

"Thirty-seven hours of labor," she argued, narrowing her eyes. "You owe me as many seven-in-the-mornings as I want."

"Hey, I offered. You're the one who wanted to do it. Because of your 'control issues'. So. No complaining. I always get up with her. Just shut up and c'mere."

"Fair enough," she smiled, resting her head in the crook of Callie's neck and moving her body in as close as she possibly could. It was highly likely that Juliet would find some way to demand their attention very soon, so she wanted to make the most of the remaining time before that impending interruption.

"She's downstairs watching the Jetsonsand trying to decide which half of her breakfast I would choose and which you would choose. I figured it'd give us about ten minutes or so before she gave up and just stuffed them both in her mouth and came sprinting up the stairs...y'know, in case you were wondering."

"I waswondering," she smiled, drawing lazy circles on the skin of Callie's hip just barely exposed below her shirt. "And I think your time estimate is a little off. She's not patient enough to wait ten minutes before eating a doughnut."

"Well, she already had one in the car, so, I had hopedshe'd take her time. How'd you know we went to the bakery this morning?"

"Because you said you asked her to choose half of her breakfast for you, and half for me. And the only breakfast we really disagree on is doughnut. So. You went to the bakery."

"Yeah, we did. It was her idea actually. She wanted you to be happy when you woke up. And she was getting antsy and was most certainly going to come up and jump on the bed. You looked like you could use the sleep. So. We went out. It was fun. She even insisted on carrying her own box."

"Of course she did," Arizona laughed, tucking a few loose strands of hair behind Callie's ear and then running her fingers through it to the ends. "The holes, right?"

"Indeed. She insisted that the bites better fit her mouth and that it allowed her to get more. However, I don't think she realized they're about the equivalent of a big one and a half. We'll keep her in the dark on that one for a while."

"Yes. What she doesn't know won't hurt her." Arizona threaded her fingers through the hair at the base of Callie's neck and pulled her into a kiss, her smile never fading. She was assuming that they only had about two minutes or less before Juliet couldn't stand to be without them any longer, and she was going to make the most of them.

Right on cue, the door creaked open and Jules peeked her little blonde head around the door frame, sprinkled doughnut in hand, and grinned like she'd just been given a puppy on Christmas morning at the sight of Arizona finally awake.

Knowing that she would pout if the silence in the room continued, Arizona gave Callie a knowing smirk and burrowed under the blankets a bit more, as Callie closed her eyes and pretended to be fast asleep.

Jules narrowed her eyes and glared at her parents; she was well aware of the game they were playing. She huffed and marched over to the bed, climbing up on Callie's side and stopping just as her little feet met Callie's back. Crouching a little and placing the doughnut next to Callie's head, Jules took one giant step, digging her tiny toes into the dip of her mom's hip and stepping firmly into it with a little giggle. Plopping a hand down on Callie's shoulder to steady herself, as if her proximity wasn't an imposition in the least, she stepped over her mother and promptly sat right on Arizona's head under the blanket.

"Mama, are you up yet?"

Arizona groaned at the pressure of the extra thirty-two pounds resting on her head, remaining very still and quiet instead of responding to her daughter's question. Instead, she shoved her arms over the top of the blanket and hooked her hands around Juliet's middle, tickling her incessantly and gently pushing her into the space between Callie's body and her own.

"Mom! Help me! She's tickling me, make her stop!" Jules said between fits of giggles and tiny groans of pain as her mother's dexterous fingers worked at all the spots that made her daughter jump and squirm.

Arizona laughed along with her, looking up and winking at Callie. "Your Mom isn't going to help you here, kiddo."

"But Mama! I brought you breakfast! Trêve! Trêve!"

Callie couldn't help but laugh as Arizona tickled Jules between them. She didn't need to help or give any input, the show was quite hilarious enough. The way her legs flopped around and her arms flailed at her sides, digging her fingers into the sheets to try to lift herself up. Even the way she spouted off the small amount of French she knew, knowing it'd melt her mother's heart in a ploy to end the relentless torment of the fingers digging into her side. It was all too adorable.

"Mom! Please! Tell her!"

"You're on your own, kid. You stepped on me! And I took you for breakfast and everything. Tickling is good payment."

As tears began to form in the corners of Juliet's eyes, Arizona ceased her attack and scooped her into a tight hug instead. She kissed the top of her little head repeatedly as she calmed down, hiccuping occasionally in the absence of the hysterical laughter. "I heard it was your idea to give me doughnuts this morning, Juliet."

"I-it was, Mama! I didn't want you to wake up sad like last night. We're going to the park today, you should be smilie like me!"

"Youmake me smilie," she grinned, setting the small child between them again and leaning back, sitting up against the headboard. "So, thank you."

"Welcome! I brought your sprinkly one with me in case you wanted it now. But I know how you feel about eating in bed so we can go downstairs, but, I brought it to show you. We got the ones with all the pretty colors, wanna see?"

"Well," Arizona smirked, folding her arms over her chest and giving Juliet a tiny nod of her head. "If you brought it all the way up here with you, I think we should eat it in bed."

Both Callie and Jules' heads snapped to Arizona's direction with wide eyes, they both blinked once, and then turned to look at one another in disbelief. "But Mama! It has crumbs! And itty bitty messy sprinkles! What about the sheets! Are you crazy?"

"We can wash the sheets," she waved her hand nonchalantly, grinning at their obvious disbelief. "My baby girl brought me a doughnut. And I want to eat it right now, please."

"Are you kidding with me right now, Mama?"

"Do I look like I'm kidding?" She smiled sweetly, but she knew that Juliet would know she was serious.

"Cool! May I go down and get us all one? It can be a breakfast party! In bed! On the sheets! This is so exciting!"

"Yes, you may," Arizona laughed, rolling her eyes at the burst of energy from her daughter as she leapt from the bed and sprinted out of the door, the faint sounds of her scrambling across the hall and down the stairs sending both she and Callie into another fit of giggles.

"She's been like that all morning. Remind me again why I put up with you two and your...unusually perky dispositions, at ungodly hours?"

"Because we're both so...enchanting?"

"I can think of a few others words, but, that works, I suppose. Now c'mere beautiful girl, I missed you."

Instead of words, Arizona smiled, closed her eyes tight with a soft, complacent sigh and allowed her entire body to relax in Callie's embrace, feeling Callie smile into the base of her neck and tighten her grasp just a little more.

After a few moments, Callie's toes and their incessant bending and twitching and pushing into the bed next to Arizona's feet just became way too much. She knew Callie had something on her mind, she always did some sort of obscure movement with any part of her body that was free when she was thinking too hard or trying to hide something from Arizona. Sometimes it was finger tapping or she'd repeatedly drop the back of her heel off her foot and let it drop to the floor, admittedly driving the blonde absolutely insane. It was...endearing, however, that her body involuntarily needed some sort of escape when she was trying to keep her mouth shut to help placate her girlfriend's need to not talk about stressful things that plagued her.

"Calliope, your toes are doing that thing again. Are you going to tell me what you're thinking about? Or are we going to keep pretending something isn't on your mind?"

"I...uh...the ignoring thing? We can just keep doing that. I'll stop the foot thing. Sorry."

"Don't apologize. Just...tell me what you're thinking."

"You slept until eleven thirty. That never happens. You're always up at ungodly hours whether you want to be or not. So. Yeah. I know something's wrong. But, you don't want to talk about it. And my feet can't stop with the asking of the questions my mouth isn't allowed to. Not really sure what to do about it."

Arizona's fingers stilled in the path of their soothing swipes along the edge of the bed, and she took a deep breath, allowing herself to feel the air wrap around her tense muscles, and shook her head just slightly. She should have known she'd never be able to just...push this all aside. "Calliope..."

"No, it's...it's fine, really. I know how you felt about it last night, I'll drop it. I'm sorry. I'll just...go down and help Jules with the food so you can wake up a little more." She leaned over and gave her a quick kiss on the side of the neck and quickly moved to shuffle out from under the covers.

Before she managed to extract any more of her limbs from under the blanket, Arizona caught Callie's wrist and pulled her back into the bed gently. "Calliope. Please. Don't go." She knew that
even if Callie tried to hide it, she was attempting to give Arizona space that she simply didn't want.

"You don't want to talk, and you knowme. I talk everything to death. So. I need to...leave. Before I upset you by pushing. I'm sorry."

"If you don't push me, I'm going to avoid talking for...as long as you let me. So, you need to...not give me the option."

"I know, really, I do. But I can tell you had a really bad night. And I don't want you to have to re-live that just to placate my incessant need to make things that are out of my control better for you."

When Callie closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, Arizona smiled and placed her palm gently against her cheek, leaning forward and kissing both of her eyes. The reason it was so difficult to resolve issues between them at times was that they each had an inexplicable need to make everything better for the other, which quite often got them absolutely nowhere.

"I know you're trying to protect me, that you compartmentalize the things that happen to you at work so you don't have to bring them home with you, but your life at work is just as much a part of you as we are. You need to learn to talk about it with me. I think it'll make things easier. You may think you're good at hiding things, but, I know you. I feelyou. And I feel what you're going through. It kills me when you hide it. You need to tell me. So just...do that. Please?"

She took a deep breath and bit down slightly on her bottom lip. She knew she'd have to talk about it eventually, as a couple, they weren't really like that. They both tried to avoid things, not to avoid them, but moreso to protect the other from having to take on that extra bit of weight. They talked, about everything, it's what they did, it's who they were as a couple. They would be nowhere without that. Arizona knew that, and yet, it was still sometimes easier to put on a brave face.

"I lost two kids last night. Two beautiful little girls, sisters. The mother she...lost everything that night. I left the eldest, Melody for Karev to close up, and when he came into the OR and told me she had a brain bleed, the toddler I was working on coded and I worked for two more hours trying to keep her stable. Nothing would...I just...nothing was enough. And when I lost her, I pulled the sheet down to look at that little girl, stroked right behind her ear like I do with Juliet when she's scared, and then I rushed to scrub out and just...lost it. I didn't know how I was going to tell their mother that I'd handed both those girls a death sentence. And I cried for twenty minutes, slumped on the floor just...it was more than I could handle and it wasn't my right to cry. They weren't mine, y'know?"

"Arizona, I'm...so sorry. C'mere." She pulled Arizona into her and held on tight, knowing she'd need that extra little bit of tightness to continue.

"So, I composed myself and splashed water on my face and headed out to tell their mother. When I got there, she was slumped back into the waiting room chair, she was sitting the way you do, with her elbows on the armrests, totally scrunched up, her knees on another chair in front of her, her fingers out pressing together in front of her chest? And she was grasping at dog tags that were around her neck outside her shirt with her left hand occasionally. I watched her for a good ten minutes before I could walk toward her. She stood up and walked over to me and saw me looking at her tags and told me that they were her husband's, and he'd just been killed a few months prior on duty, and she was hoping he'd pull them through. And when I dropped my head she just, collapsed and I had to catch her, but I fell with her and we just kind of...kneeled there together crying. It was probably the worst time I'd ever had telling a parent their kid died. And it brought up all kinds of things with my brother and how my mother was when we were told. It was just...a really, really bad night.

"I really wish you would have called me. I'm just...so sorry. I..."

Arizona smiled softly and shook her head, lacing her fingers tightly through Callie's. "The best way you could have been there for me that night was to be here. Keeping ourbaby girl safe and happy. I...needed to come home to that. To you."

She wrapped her free hand around Callie's neck and stroked her thumb over the soft skin repeatedly, absentmindedly, soothing herself just as much by the action.

"I wish I could have been there to hold you in the scrub room or after or...something...I just...feel so useless because I wasn't there. Even if you needed me here with Jules. But, the night was good. It had a few bumps once you got home, but like always, we kind of...worked it out and it was...pretty perfect. Speaking of Jules, pretty sure she's never been gone this long when doughnuts are involved in her entire life. Think I should go check?"

"I'd say yes, but...I think I hear her."

The faint sound of a little voice floated up to them from the bottom of the stairs, and after the third or fourth loud, purposeful stomp of her feet, Arizona recognized that she was counting, with a tone of focused determination. She pushed herself up by her right elbow, craning her neck toward the open door in an attempt to hear her more clearly. "What do you think she's doing?"

"Probably trying not to fall up the stairs. She counts them all the time. Sometimes she makes it into a little song. It's really cute. 'One, two, three, four, don't stop counting or you'll fall onto the floor' that kind of thing. She's a big goof."

Arizona giggled along with her until she heard a pause in the melodic counting. There were a few brief moments filled with the sounds of Jules shuffling around before resuming her ascent, jumping loudly from each step to the next until she reached the landing. And when she appeared in the middle of the doorway, neither Arizona nor Callie could contain their laughter.

Juliet stood as tall as she could, boxes of doughnut held triumphantly over her head, which was adorned with Arizona's long-forgotten jeans from somewhere around step number five; they flowed endlessly behind her tiny body like a long, denim veil, making her quite possibly the most frustratingly adorable little girl they could possibly imagine.

"Mom, can I have a little help here? They're too big and I'm too small! I can't believe I made it up all those stairs without dropping them!"

Laughing, Arizona shot out of the bed, pushing Callie down in the process so she wouldn't get up, and ran over to help their daughter with her too big for me boxes. She moved them easily onto the table next to Callie's side of the bed and lifted Juliet into the air, tossing her into the middle of the mattress before leaping onto the bed next to her, half landing on Callie in the process.

"Hey! You two really need to stop stepping and falling and leaping onto me. It's really not fair. You both have bony feet and arms and just...bony everything, and it hurts! So stop it already."

"You love our bony everything." Juliet stated simply with a confident nod of her head, tossing the pant legs over her shoulder and giving her mother a linebacker shove with her shoulders into Callie's side. She sat back on her heels, placing her hands firmly on her hips and glancing back and forth between her mothers with a reproachful glare.

"Mama..." She began, pointing to the jeans wrapped around her head. "Can we talk about the mess you made?"

Callie and Arizona immediately shot each other wide eyed glares, and they both audibly gasped. "Your mama didn't make a mess, Jules."

"Lies. Are these, or are these not, her pants, Mom? And did I or did I not find them on the stairs? You can't fool me! I'll ask you again. Mama, why were your jeans on the steps?"

Arizona rolled her eyes to the ceiling, racking her brain for a plausible answer and coming up with nothing. "They...um...fell off. They fell off, and I was really tired, so...I guess I just..left them there."

"That's a bad excuse. I'd like you to try again, please."

Arizona narrowed her eyes, shooting Callie a glare for getting them into this situation. "Sometimes, certain kinds of messes are okay, Juliet."

"You tell me that no messes are okay. That they just make things...messy. And messy is hard to think in. So. If you can leave your clothes on the floor, then I can too. Innnnn fact, as your punishment, I'm going to have a clothes throwing party in my room right now. Because certain kinds of messes are allowed. Kay? Bye!"

She pushed herself away from Callie's embrace and rolled over top of her, bouncing slightly on her butt at the edge of the bed as she came out of her somersault tuck. In mid air, Callie grabbed her around the waist and threw her over on top of Arizona. "You're not going anywhere, missy."

"Oh, yes I am! Clothes throwing party awaits my arrival. I'm the guest of honor, after all."

"If I'm not mistaken, you were also the guest of honor at a breakfast in bed party. So. Make your decision wisely."

"I'd like to make a counter mess, thank you." Nodding her head once again and wriggling out of Arizona's bear hug, she stood up and placed a tiny foot on Callie's hip once more with a smirk. Turning her head to look at Arizona with her forehead raised, she pursed her lips. "So, I'll see you guys later?"

Arizona shrugged her shoulders with feigned disinterest and watched Juliet run from the room, grinning at Callie wickedly as she called out loudly, "Oh, Calliope, we should make sure we eat all of the doughnut holes first. They sound yummy."

Immediately, Juliet leaned back into the doorway, just barely popping her head into the room. "Your ploy will not work on me, Mama! You don't like doughnut holes!"

"You know, you're right, Jules. But unfortunately for you, I do. And I'm feeling particularly hungry this morning, so I may just have to gobble them all up. Sorry for your luck, kiddo. Have fun with your mess!"

She made the slightest hesitation, shuffling back and forth between her feet before shaking her head slightly and nodding in determination to her parents. She refused to let them win. "I will, thank you!"

Turning her head to face Arizona as Jules bolted from their room, skipping down the hallway, Callie shook her head. "You know we just lost that one, right? To a five year old. Proud of yourself? You've gotta have something better in that arsenal of comebacks and speeches of yours than 'we'll eat your food'. Seriously?"

Arizona narrowed her eyes playfully in response, giving her a quick kiss and chuckling against her lips. "Just...wait. It won't be long."

"Well, I'm at least going to empty her box into ours. Scare her a little when she comes running back in here for them. But, be prepared for her pout you can't resist. I can, of course, because I withstand yours, it's you I'm worried about. You kind of...suck at saying no when she pouts."

Completely disregarding those last few statements, Arizona's brain went into overdrive calculating how best to prank their child. "Ooooh, empty her box, that's good. Yeah. And we should probably put some crumbs in the bed. And on our lips too."

Cocking an eyebrow, Callie reached into the box, stole a side glance at her girlfriend, smirked, picked up a tiny doughnut, and quickly slammed it against Arizona's mouth, watching as it stuck and crumbled onto Arizona's shirt and mouth and the sheets too. "You mean, like this?"

Arizona gasped, immediately reaching into the box for another little doughnut and smashing it on Callie's lips. "No, more like this."

Callie's eyes widened and she locked her jaw. "You're dead." She sat up, shoving Arizona until she fell to her back on the bed. Climbing on top of her, pressing her knees into the mattress around Arizona's hips, Callie shifted her weight just slightly enough to make sure she got the attention she wanted, and when she heard the slight gasp, she knew she had Arizona right where she wanted her.

Reaching over and picking another hole out of the box, she leaned in real close to Arizona's face, holding it out in front of her, squishing it in her fist, and then allowing the ground down doughnut crumbs to fall all over the soft skin. Then, leaning further into her, she picked a piece up between her teeth next to the corner of the blonde's mouth, biting slightly. Smiling when she felt Arizona grab at the back of her shirt, she leaned down and kissed her firmly, her own bottom lip just under Arizona's.

Arizona smiled against Callie's lips and slid her hands under the front of her shirt, slowly digging her nails into the soft skin. She ran her tongue across Callie's top lip and gasped when Callie pushed her thigh swiftly between her legs. "Well," she growled, feeling her voice drop several octaves. "You taste reallygood."

"You'd be surprised how often I'm told that. You must be lucky or something to get to experience it this morning. I mean, because just the other day..."

Arizona growled once more, wrapping her hands around Callie's hips and pulling her closer. "You'd better be really careful about how you finish that sentence."

"Oh? Or what?"

"Or it'll be a very long time until you get to see how good Itaste."

"Hm. Well, I keep my options open, so, it's really not that big of a deal. I remember the nurse I worked with yesterday, what was her name? Uh...Alison, yeah. I distinctly remember her reaching into my lab coat and..."

"What in the world is going on in here, you two!"

Both heads snapping to the open door, completely caught, completely disappointed Juliet had interrupted yet again, Callie crinkled her brow and opened her mouth to speak, but when words didn't come to her, she closed her mouth promptly in contemplation. And then a small smile curled onto her lips. "Well, we were just going to have our own clothes throwing party. You were pretty adamant that's what your plans were, so, you should go enjoy yours so we can keep enjoying ours."

Arizona's eyes widened in disapproval, and she pinched Callie's side, whispering furiously. "Seriously?"

Callie shot her a glare. "Um, you're kidding, right? How many times has this happened in the last two weeks? Need I remind you?"

Tapping her foot anxiously and crossing her arms, Juliet glared at her mothers. "I'm waiting for my adultanswer, Mom."

Callie grunted in disapproval and dropped her body unceremoniously onto the bed next to Arizona. "Ask your mother, she seems to have all the answers."

Arizona shook her head in disbelief at the fact that they had been interrupted. Again.

Unbelievable.

Deciding to shift the conversation in a different direction, she gave Juliet a curious smile. "What happened to your clothes throwing party, baby?"

"It got less fun once all my clothes were out of the dresser and on my floor, so I came in here to see what you guys were up to. No big deal. What wereyou guys up to, hm Mama?"

"Well," Arizona grinned, giving Callie a playful shove on her shoulder. "Your mom was kiiiinda being a meanie pants, actually."

"Yeah, she does that. No surprise there. So, what?"

"What do you mean, 'what'?"

"Mom being mean happens all the time, so, it doesn't actually, y'know, explain what you were doing. Hors de sujet, Mama."

"Parfois, les petites filles n'ont pas besoin de toutes les réleponses, Juliet."

Juliet smiled sweetly at her mother's fluent French, and then smirked when she came up with her own response. "Celui-ci ne."

Callie leaned back into the bed and smiled, turning her head back and forth in an Arizona vs. Juliet French tennis match. She could understand vaguely what they were saying, but it was almost just as much fun notto know. Their daughter really was too smart for her own good. Especially if she thought she was the exception to all other little girls in not needing answers to every question, as Arizona had informed her.

"Vous saurez un jour, jolie fille."

"But, Mama!I don't want to wait that long, I wanna know now!"

"You'll just have to," she nodded firmly and beckoned with one finger for the little girl to join them on the bed. Because as much as she desperately wanted to be alone with Callie again, she just couldn't help but need to have Juliet in her arms as soon as possible.

Juliet's eyes widened slightly in excitement at her mother's offer, Sunday morning snuggling was her absolute favorite, after all. And then just as she went to sprint across the room, she caught herself and halted, looking to the ceiling in thought. "You two ate some of my doughnut holes, didn't you?"

Arizona grinned and winked at Callie, surveying the mess of crumbs surrounding them. "I...don't know if 'ate" is really the best word for it."

"You mean, you wasted them? Are you seriousright now?"

Arizona shifted guiltily under the scrutiny of Juliet's glare. "I...no?"

"Incorrect. You're sobusted. You're so mean to me! Déloyale!"

Callie shook her head. "You really need to stop with the smart. It's mildly annoying, Jules. Just c'mere and stop using that big brain of yours and snuggle with your parents like a normal five year old would."

Juliet hesitated, but then grinned and ran at full speed towards the bed, leaping into the space between her mothers and burrowing under the covers. "It's not myfault you don't know French, Mom."

"Is that what you think? Just because I don't speak with you two, doesn't mean I don't know it. I can follow along perfectly fine, thank you very much. And we aren't mean, nor are we unfair, missy. Plus, I totally saved you a few in our box so that your Mama wouldn't steal them and eat them. Not mean, je suis agreable toujours."

Both Arizona and Juliet's heads snapped into focus directly on Callie and both exclaimed at the exact same time, Juliet's English ghosting over Arizona's French, "Seriously? Sérieusement?" In turn, they both shot each other a look and cracked up laughing, Juliet throwing herself back onto the bed.

All three of them enjoyed a healthy round of laughter before Juliet arched her back and crab crawled her way between her parents, plopping promptly onto the mattress and sprawled her arms and legs out over top of both Callie's neck and Arizona's face. "Did ya miss me?"

"Not really, no," Callie responded, picking her daughter's hand off her neck and dropping it onto the little girl's chest. "What about you, Arizona?"

"Well, she was only gone for ten minutes. Maybe less," she mused, sliding Juliet's legs away from her face and pushing them back under the covers. "So, didn't really have much time to miss you, kiddo."

"But, I'm just so cute! You have to have missed me, even a little bit. Come on, you don't fool me!"

"We always miss you. Even when we're with you. C'mere." As Juliet snuggled into her side, reaching behind her to pull Callie closer to them, Arizona smiled softly at her girlfriend and sighed in contentment. "You two really do take bad nights and turn them into perfect mornings. I love you both, so much. Thank you for being mine."

A few moments of silence passed before Arizona felt Juliet's little toes rubbing into the sheets next to her knee, and just like her mother, Arizona knew this meant she was trying desperately to keep something bottled up inside, trying not to disrupt the comfortable silence that had fallen over them.

"Juliet. Your toes are asking questions I can't understand, would you like to just tell me?" Arizona whispered while smoothing Juliet's hair behind her ears and away from her face.

Juliet tilted her head up to look Arizona in the eyes with a big goofy grin spread across her face. "Mama, can we make Christmas as perfect as Halloween turned out to be?"

Arizona sighed, leaning down to press a soft kiss to the top of Juliet's head. "Yes, of course. It'll be even more perfect than Halloween."

Callie took the arm she had around Arizona's waist and lifted her hand to run her thumb along the top of Arizona's forearm, and shot her a warm smile and gave her a small wink and a firm nod, closing her eyes as she did so.

"Mama, I know you don't make promises, but please will you promise just this one time?"

"Je vous promets." As Juliet closed her eyes and breathed in a slow, satisfied breath, she buried her face a little more deeply into Arizona's shirt, grasping at the bottom of it with her little fist and let out a long sigh of contentment.

"I love you both, times a bunches."

"We love you, too. More than anything little one."