Chapter 4: Our Rights

Callie stared at her cell phone for a good few minutes before she put it down. Wasn't this just the icing on top of the cake... Her heart was racing, she was having a hard time sorting through her muddled thoughts, and all she knew for absolutely certain was that she needed to make sure she was on the earliest possible flight to Seattle. Okay... I can do this. She thought as she squared her shoulders. She drove the fear for her daughter's safety to the back of her mind and turned back into the bedroom, where there lay a sleeping red head. If she were being totally honest, she wasn't too enthralled with the idea of rousing her. Whether it would turn into another fight or not, she couldn't be sure. Either way, there was a crisis. She didn't have much of a choice in the matter.

"Hey, Penny..." She reached and laid a hand on the woman's shoulder. Penny didn't move.

"What, Calliope..." Was the response the brunette received. The woman didn't open her eyes, didn't budge, just laid there. It was clear, however, that she was, in fact, quite awake and aware. Callie's eyes narrowed at the back of her partners' head.

"Sofia ran away from home this morning, we have to go to Seattle." This information stirred a reaction.
"What?" Penny evidently wasn't sure she'd heard her properly. The woman turned over and then Callie could finally see the woman peering at her. She removed her hand from the red head and sat back on the bed, her lips forming a grim line.

"Sofia ran away." Callie repeated. She watched a look of exasperation wash over the pale features across from her own. Penny lifted a hand and pinched the bridge of her nose as she processed what Callie had told her. None to impressed. And here we go... She thought.

"Do you realize that I have two, very massive, incredibly important, meetings today with the board, which pretty much decide whether or not I get the funding for my clinical trial." Penny replied smoothly, her tone laced with a hint of a chill. Calliope stared at her. Was she being serious? The brunette remained silent for minute or two, scanning her partners' face for any sign that she might have just been choosing a horrible time to be a shit of a joker. The other woman dropped her hand back to her lap, returning Callie's blank stare. Calliope scoffed, at long last, and shook her head. She rose from the bed and walked to her dresser to start packing her clothes.

"I tell you that our daughter ran away and all you can think about is your fucking clinical trial... You are unbelievable," She countered bitterly while placing a pile of folded shirts and socks on the bed. "Just stay here, do whatever you need to do. I'll go by myself."

"This is important, Callie. This could be my career..." Callie raised a hand to stop Penny from antagonizing her further, she wasn't having it. Not now.

"Stop. Don't. Don't compare the importance of your career to my the importance of my kid. I am done talking about this, so... Just stop." She couldn't even look at the other woman. She was... Actually a little disgusted. But that was the norm, wasn't it? It was by chance that they even ended up sleeping in the same bed, something... Changed. Through the years, it started off small. Then the hole grew bigger, and bigger, until they were this. It was different.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Penny peel back the covers and get out of bed. She heard her disappear in to the bathroom and close the door, and listened as the shower sprung to life. That was that. By the time the red headed woman would be done, Callie would be down stairs with her carry on waiting for a cab. By the time she'd be making breakfast, the brunette would be in the cab on her way to the airport... And as Callie rode toward her destination, the little nagging bite of regret for ever having left Seattle would roll over her in waves. She'd try her best to push that feeling aside. But, damn... It was hard.


Pulling into the driveway at Arizona's, Meredith couldn't help but notice another vehicle taking up the majority of the space. Meredith pursed her lips in mild irritation. Come on, Karev. Learn how to park. She mumbled to herself as she wedged herself in as best she could.

The drive over was mostly spent trying to figure out how to properly word what she wanted to say. She was that kind of woman. Sure, there had been a number of occasions where she could riff a good spiel about this or that, but this was bigger. This involved the kids. Sofia might as well just have been one of her own, as Zola could have very well been one of theirs. The girls were close, Grey and Yang close, twisted sisters to the core. Bailey, well, he was a boy. The girls had their own club, their secrets, their biology... Certain things Bailey would never be able to understand. A sisterhood was a ladies only thing. Zola and Sofia had it. She was lucky that they did; that they had one and other.

Meredith climbed out of her car and locked it pressing the small lock button on her key chain. She sorted herself and climbed the few stairs to knock at Arizona's front door. The blond wasn't the one who answered, rather, she was met by Alex.

"Hey, Mer." Greeted the man stiffly as he opened the door for her to walk through.

"Hey." She greeted in turn, softly, as she stepped inside and dropped her purse onto the chair in the entrance. She could hear sniffling in the living room, Alex just nodded when she thumbed to the room while looking back at him with a questioning eye. He looked awful. Concerned. She felt a bit bad for not explaining the situation over the phone, although this was far more a time to sit and have a dialogue. There was far too much to discuss.

Meredith turned into the living room to find Arizona on the couch, still her in her pj's, with her phone and a box of Kleenex. Her eyes were swollen, puffy, and still filling with fresh tears. The elder blond sighed deeply as her friend glanced up to look at her. Meredith gave a small, sympathetic smile.

"Sofia is with me, she's at the house with Zola right now." Meredith stated while lowering herself down on the couch beside the other woman. At first, Arizona looked as though she didn't quite understand, she didn't respond, but only turned her face to look at Meredith with confusion. Meredith just nodded her head and reached out to place a hand on Arizona's back. It took a second to register before the blond relaxed against the weight of her friends' hand soothing her. She couldn't speak. Meredith sensed that this whole ordeal had deeply effected the younger woman, her body language was broken, and Arizona quickly covered her face with her hands and sobbed. Relief.

Alex didn't say a word, he just watched and listened, eventually seating himself across from the women in the leather armchair opposite where they sat. The stress etched on his face didn't dissipate, if anything, he appeared just the same despite the news of Sofia's location. His mind was trapped in a loop of why's and how's. He just couldn't find words.

"I have to call Callie... Tell her she doesn't have to fly, I need to change..." Arizona finally began to say once her tears began to subside. She grabbed a tissue and dabbed her eyes, nearly getting up to get dressed in order to go retrieve her child, however, Meredith halted her. Meredith shot a look between Alex and Arizona, her hand remaining on the woman's shoulder, gripping lightly, so she didn't move. Both peered at her questioningly.

"Sofia doesn't know that I'm here, you know, she doesn't know you called," She stated in a gentler tone while removing her hand, returning it to her lap, and lacing her fingers. It took one look from Meredith to inform Arizona that she knew... She knew everything. Arizona felt the heat rise in her cheeks. Was it embarrassment? Shame? Regret? Meredith couldn't tell. And, frankly, it didn't really matter. What mattered were the kids. "And that's how it should be."

"How do you figure that?" Alex spoke up and Meredith turned her gaze upon him. She watched him fold his arms over his chest and cock his head to the side, peering right back at her, evidently somewhat unimpressed.

"Think about it, Sofia obviously would ask me not to call her mother. I didn't call Arizona, but I'm still here telling her where her kid is, and if she knows that I'm here, or if Arizona miraculously appears after I've 'gone to the hospital', which is where I said I was going, then I will have broken her trust. She won't trust me, she needs to trust me," The picture was growing clearer the more Meredith explained, and it was then that she turned to address Arizona, mother to mother. "I know that you love your daughter. We're good parents, we love our kids, and we're a family. But something is going on that is making Sofia want to run away from home. And Callie is a part of that issue. So, she should come, and the three of you should discuss this together. But Sofia cannot know that I told you she's with me... Because if she does, if ever there is a problem that she feels she can't come to you with, she won't come to me, she might not even go to someone else... Not if she feels betrayed."

Alex and Arizona glanced at one and other. Meredith did have a point. It didn't matter how much Arizona loathed the idea of drawing this out, her daughter would feel absolutely betrayed, and where would that leave her and Calliope?

The three sat together in the living room, sharing the silence, so much to be said, but none to eager to start discussing the situation. Sometimes it didn't really matter how close you were, how connected, some things were even difficult to decide as parents and care givers. Arizona would talk to Callie, tell her what had transpired, ask about Penny and whether Calliope was going to do something about that mess. She'd be lying if she said she didn't believe her daughter when Sofia told her their relationship was toxic. She knew how the other woman was when she was happy, in love, and well cared for... She'd seen a change in both of 'her' girls, the ones she cared about most; Sofia and Callie weren't happy, they clearly didn't feel loved, or cared for, in the way they needed it. She just didn't want to acknowledge it. Arizona didn't want to rock the boat. She'd done it so many times in the past, she was terrified to have to do it again.

Sofia was going to stay in Seattle. End of story. Whether Calliope liked it or not.

To be continued...