I don't own anything…all credit goes to ABC/Shondaland
Hope you enjoy! Heads up, both POV's in this chapter.
Chapter Seven
Callie's POV
Walking in from another eventful day at Seattle Grace, I see Arizona leaning against the kitchen island in between Noah and Sofia who are seated on bar stools coloring away in their coloring books.
"Mama's home!" Sofia greets, noticing me first. "Come look at my drawing."
"Me too. I drew a fishy!" Noah exclaims proudly. Making my way further into the kitchen, I drop my bag and keys on the counter across from my family.
"Let's see what you got here, guys." Taking Sofia's picture I see she's drawn herself with wings, a purple tutu, and clouds all around her.
"I'm a flying dancer!"
"I see. What about you, Noah?" He passes me his drawing that's only halfway complete. "These are some pretty good fish, buddy."
"Mommy help me." He adds sheepishly.
"Well I just drew the fish, but you did all the coloring." She says cheering him up. It's then that I notice my wife is dressed in a navy blue cocktail dress, with her hair slightly curled and small diamond stud earrings in her ears. I take a quick glance at the family calendar on the refrigerator behind me and remember that tonight she's going out with some friends. "You forgot didn't you?"
"What? Me, forget? No way." I awkwardly lie, but she sees right through me. "Okay it may have slipped my mind, but it doesn't matter. I'm here, you can go. I'll hold down the fort."
Walking around towards me, she gives me a necklace before turning around and moving her hair to one side. "Callie, what's the point of the calendar if you're not going to read it? I put it on the fridge so you can't miss it."
"I read it…sometimes." I confess while fastening her necklace. "It just slipped my mind, that's all. I kiss the back of her neck and she turns back around facing me. "You look really beautiful by the way."
"Thank you." She grins. "You know they say forgetfulness could be a sign of pregnancy. Maybe you're…"
"We'll take the test tomorrow. Right now, you have a dinner date to go to. Where are you guys going anyway?"
"It's that new Italian place downtown."
"Oooh, it sounds fancy." I place a kiss on her check. "Have fun."
"I will. Okay, so there's some chicken and broccoli in the fridge and I figured you guys could have some rice or pasta with that."
"Sounds good, babe. Say bye to mom, guys."
"Bye mommy." Sof and Noah say unison before returning their attention back to their artwork. Arizona gives them each a kiss goodbye and gathers her things as I walk her towards the front door.
"I might be a little late, okay?"
"Take your time, enjoy yourself. I might be up when you get back."
"Okay, heads up they both had afternoon naps so they are definitely reenergized."
"Noted. Now go, I don't want you to be late." She leans forward to give me a kiss on the lips, but that's quickly interrupted by her cellphone. "See, they're calling you already. Go." I say nudging her out the door.
"Yeah, yeah. Love you."
"Me too." Once she's gone I return to the kitchen to start some dinner. "Alright, who's hungry?!"
"Me!" Sof quickly answers followed by Noah. Pulling some ingredients out the fridge I see Sofia's face scrunch up. "Mama, I don't really like broccoli."
"If I'm being honest, Sof, neither do I. But mommy says it's extremely healthy for us."
"Yeah, but I don't like it." She states, ignoring my previous comment.
"Ice cream for dinner?" Noah suggests.
"Yeah! Ice cream. Please mamaaaa." Sof pleads.
"We can't have ice cream dinner, but how about we skip the broccoli and just have chicken and rice. After that we can make cookies! Sound good?"
"Yayy!" They both cheer with excitement. "What about veggies? Mommy says veggies are important." Sofia says, being the responsible one.
"We can skip the veggies tonight. It'll be our little secret, okay?" Nodding their heads in understanding, I put the broccoli back in the fridge and get started on the other food.
"You guys wanna listen to some music?" I ask trying to make the mood livelier. I notice whenever I come home Arizona most times has the kids coloring or doing activities to keep their minds stimulated. I, on the other hand, would let them watch movies and play all the time cause its summer and their young. Arizona insists that kids lose a lot of the stuff they learn during the school year over the summer, which is true, so it's important to keep them engaged in learning, but sometimes I just want them to let loose. Hearing them laugh and giggle with smiles on their faces is my favorite thing. I know Arizona is looking out for them and I can't be mad at that. I guess between us there's a happy medium. Connecting my iPhone to the wireless speakers, I pick an appropriate song, help the kids out their chairs and watch them wiggle around to the beat.
While they dance and run around the kitchen, I start preparing dinner and within twenty minutes we are seated in the dining room eating. Sofia and Noah tell me all about the their day, making sure to leave nothing out.
"All right, who wants to help me make cookies!?"
"Me! I do!" They answer. Moving back into the kitchen, I gather all the ingredients we'll need and get started. I pick up Sof and put her on the counter while I hold Noah with one arm so he can see everything.
"Can we put chocolate chips in them?" Sof asks, surveying everything on the counter top.
"Of course we can. That's gonna be your job, okay?" I scoop out some chocolate chips and put them in a measuring cup for her to hold. "When it's time you are going to pour them in the big bowl."
"I wanna do it!" Noah pouts.
"You're gonna help too. I need you to pour all the sugar in. Everyone's got an important job." Satisfied with that answer, I combine the flour, eggs, baking power and vanilla together then help Noah pour all the sugar in. They take turns mixing everything together before Sof pours in the most important ingredient. After that's thoroughly mixed together we all make little circular balls of the dough and place them on the cookie sheet. Once they are in the over, I hand them each a small handful of chocolate chips to snack one.
"How long do they take?" Sof questions while nibbling on her sweet treat as I put the cookies in the oven.
"About ten minutes. Not long at all." Looking at the clock, I notice it's only seven thirty in the evening. "What do you guys want to do after we eat cookies?"
"Go to the park?" Sofia suggests.
"Or the movies!" Noah offers.
"Yeah, the movies, mama. I wanna see Finding Dory."
Pulling out my iPad I look up movie times. "That does sound kind of fun. I think we can make an eight fifteen movie. Alright, here's the game plan. You guys go get your shoes on, once the cookies are done we can take them in the car and eat them on the way to the theater."
"Awesome!" Sofia roars as she and Noah head upstairs. I start to clean the kitchen, but my phone ringing disrupts me.
"Hey Addie!"
"Callie Torres, why haven't I spoken to you in a few weeks?" My best friend sternly questions.
"Sorry, sorry. I've been busy."
"Don't worry, me too." She replies, her toughness easily faltering. "How's it going?"
"You know, the same. I can't talk too long, I'm taking the kids to see Finding Dory."
"They are going to love it! Josh and I saw it a few weeks ago."
"Josh, huh? How's that going?"
"Still going strong. It's baseball season so he's gone a lot, but I flew to Florida when they were playing the Marlins and we had a date night."
"That distance must suck."
"Yeah, but it seems like every women in Los Angeles is having babies and they are all coming to me, so I've been working all the time. I was only in Florida for eighteen hours, but we hadn't seen each other in three weeks so I just had to visit him."
"Well that was nice of you." Taking the cookies out the oven, I let them cool for a minute or two while I gather my things. "We really need to catch up, maybe I'll call you when I get back tonight."
"Yeah, yeah of course. I can tell you're in mommy mode so don't let me interrupt you. Tonight's my first free night in the while so I'm just catching up on some tv and drinking some wine."
"God, that sounds amazing right now. Anyway, we'll talk later."
"Sure thing, tell everyone I said hello."
"Will do." The line disconnects and I put some cookies in a container and head upstairs to make sure the kids are ready. "Everything good?" I ask peaking into Noah's room.
"Uh-huh. I was helping Noah with his shoes."
"That's nice of you, Sof. Noah, did you thank your sister?"
"Thanks, Sof." He gives her a hug and I swear my heart melts as he wraps his little arms around his sister. I know all parents say it, but I swear I have the cutest kids.
"Time to get into the car if we wanna make it on time." Ushering them down the stairs, I lock up the house and help them into their booster seats. "Everybody ready?"
"Yeah."
"Wait!" Sofia yells. "The cookies."
"Right," Grabbing the small box from the passenger seat I pass them each two cookies and a napkin. "Now are we ready?"
"Yep! Finding Dory time!"
About two hours later we arrive back at the house and luckily for me Arizona isn't home yet because I haven't cleaned up the kitchen. "Pajama time." I announce opening the door for Sof and Noah.
"Can you help me, mama?" Noah asks after letting out a big yawn. Picking him up, I grab Sof's hand and lead us all upstairs.
"Can you brush your teeth while I help your brother?"
"Okay." She sleepily answers walking into her room. Turning into Noah's room I help him brush his teeth and change into his pajamas. Seeing as his eyes are can barely stay open, I skip story time and tuck him into bed.
"Love you, Noah." I say kissing him on the forehead. "I'll see you in the morning."
"Night night." I flick on his nightlight before turning off his room light and closing his door halfway. Walking across to Sofia's room, I see her seated on her bed in the pink and purple princess pajamas.
"How's it going in here?"
"Good. I'm sleepy though."
"Well let's get you into bed then." Pulling back her bed covers she crawls in. Sitting on the edge of her bed, I push her hair out her face and look over her. It always seems that we're moving so quick that I miss her growing up. Her eyes may be my color, but they are the same shape as Mark's. "Your hair is getting long."
"I know. Mommy says it looks like yours."
"It does. It's very pretty."
"Can you read me a story?"
"I'd love to read you a story." I grab a book off her bookshelf and scoot into bed next to her. "How's the one?"
"It's one of my favorites." She grins. "Mama?"
"Hmm?"
"Can you read it in Spanish?" This is the first time she's asked me to read her something in Spanish. I know she's learning it along with Mandarin in school, but I've never read her a complete story in Spanish. In all honesty, I should probably engage in Spanish with her more so she can practice. Not to mention, its very much part of her heritage.
"Sure, let me know if you don't understand something." Halfway through the story I noticed she's out for the night. So I carefully remove myself from her bed and shut off the light before exiting the room. Going back downstairs, I notice it's a little after eleven at night. After about fifteen minutes I hear the front door open then close and the shuffle of Arizona's feet into the kitchen.
"You're still up." Coming up next to me near the sink she gives me a kiss on the cheek.
"Yeah, I just finished straightening up down here." I reply, tossing the dishtowel on the counter. "How was dinner?"
"Actually really good. Funny enough, we went to your hotel, the T Hotel for drinks beforehand."
"I hear they have a great bar on the rooftop. And it's not my hotel."
"Callie, it's named after your family." She states matter-of-factly.
"Yeah, but I don't think of it as my hotel. Besides, you're a Torres too so if anything it's our hotel." I say pecking her lips.
"Well I love being a Torres, so if a hotel chain comes with the territory then I take it." Kissing me again, she circles her arms around my neck. "How was your night?"
"Really good." Mimicking her actions, I put my arms around her waist. "Had dinner, made cookies, I talked to Addie briefly, and we saw Finding Dory."
"Aw man, I was hoping to take them to see that movie."
"I'm sure they would love to see it again."
"You're probably right about that. Hey, it's almost midnight. We could take a pregnancy test tonight if you want."
"No, that's okay. We can just wait until we wake up." I shrug off and dropping our gaze.
"Come on, it's like a few minutes away. By the time we go upstairs and change into our pajamas it'll be tomorrow. I even bought a whole bunch of pregnancy test the other day. I still had some of mine, but I wasn't sure if they expire or not so I just—"
"Arizona, stop." Cutting off her ramble, I move out of her our embrace. "Let's just wait, okay?"
Clearly not picking up on me wanting to drop the topic, she keeps talking. "I mean really, what's a few more hours anyway, right?"
"I'm not doing it tonight." I state more firmly and taking a few more steps away from her.
"Umm, okay. What's going on?" She asks softening her demeanor. "Do you know something I don't already?"
Letting out a big sigh and running my hands through my hair, I turn to walk away, but she catches my wrist and stands in front of me again. "Can we just go to sleep, please?"
"No, we can't just go to sleep, Callie." She adds emphatically, her soft tone gone immediately. "Why don't you want to take a test?"
"I'm not doing this right now. I'm going upstairs." Turning on my heels, I exit the kitchen and head upstairs with her right behind me.
"What the hell, Calliope?" She whispers as we pass our kids bedrooms towards our master suite. "Is something wrong? Did something happen?"
"Let's just drop it, okay?"
"We can drop it when you give me a reason why." Shutting our bedroom door, she sits next to me on the edge of the bed.
"God, you're just relentless tonight." I spit out with a more irritation then I initially intend to. "I'll give you your damn test." Snapping up, I head into the bathroom and start opening drawers and cabinets looking for a stick to pee on.
"We're not going to do it like this. Not when you're upset or whatever."
Stopping her from entering the bathroom, I decide to take things into my own hands. "I'm going to do it right now so we can get it over with." Closing the door, I finally find a test and quickly sit on the toilet to take care of business. Once I finish I flush the toilet, wash my hands and set my phone to a two-minute timer. Barely thirty seconds have passed when I hear a knock on the door.
"Callie, can I please come in?" Arizona asks quietly. "Please?" Opening the door, she comes in and stands next to me leaning against the sink. Not one word is spoken until the timer goes off. Picking up the stick again, I read the words "Not Pregnant" before handing it off to my wife.
"I knew it." I mutter to myself.
"Callie, I'm sorry." She says full of compassion and taking one of my hands. "Wh-what did you mean you 'knew it'?"
"I mean I haven't felt anything different since two weeks ago after we left the doctors office. Completely nothing. It's like I knew right away it wouldn't work."
"Sometimes people don't feel any signs, ya know? It's just—"
"You don't get it, I just knew immediately. Everyday I would wish for just the smallest of signs to give me some hope, but I got nothing. This is why I didn't want any expectations or anything."
"Well Callie it's kinda hard not to have any expectations doing this. Just think if it were the opposite, you'd be pregnant right now."
"But I'm not."
"So we can try again."
"Arizona—"
"When you're ready, we can try again." She rapidly follows up. "I just thought if we waited until we woke up tomorrow, maybe I would feel a change or something."
"I didn't mean to upset you earlier. I was just so excited. I was excited for the both of us cause I know you were lacking some positivity and—"
"I swear sometimes you make it seem like I'm some kind of heartless, emotionless person, Arizona." Pushing myself off the counter, I run my hand up and down my face trying to compose myself. "Just because I'm not out buying all the baby clothes Seattle has to offer and stuffing them into closets doesn't mean I'm not excited. I don't know how else to tell you that I'm in this. If I wasn't I wouldn't be so upset right now. And before you say anything I know it didn't work on the your first try, but I guess we just handle things differently." Exiting the en suite I prepare myself for bed. The next ten minutes are tense between us as we both go about our nightly routines. Once we're both in bed, the silence continues as we try and get comfortable on our respective sides.
"Arizona." I utter out into the bedroom darkness.
"Calliope." Closing the short space between us, I lean my head on my wife's shoulder.
"I really wanted it to work."
"I know you did," Giving me a kiss on my forehead she begins massaging my head with her hand. "Me too, babe."
"I couldn't help myself, I read the statistics. It only works twenty percent of the time, but I just thought…I don't know."
"Hey, hey, don't play the numbers game. Everyone is different."
"I didn't mean to blow up at you."
"I understand. At least we can tell the hormones are working." She jokes. "I know what you meant earlier. I swear I thought I was pregnant the first time we tried with Noah. Like you said, it's almost as if you can feel it. But then I wasn't and then I ate my body weight in ice cream that day."
"I didn't think we ate that much."
"Oh I did. After you went to bed that night I ate a whole bunch more."
"How long did this failure feeling last for?"
"First of all, you're not a failure. It's biology…it's science. You would know that better than anyone. Also, just waking up the next day to you and Sof was just a reminder of how much I already had to be thankful for." More silence falls between us as I draw invisible circles across her stomach. "So you found the baby clothes in my office closet?"
"It was an accident. I was looking for something else." I confess truthfully. "Why? I mean I get buying a onesie or two, but at that point we hadn't even really talked about another kid."
"If I'm being completely honest, a part of me wished you would find them eventually so that would force us to have that conversation again. Time passed, then the California trip came up and we had that talk then. If you're worried about the clothes I can return them, I have the receipts or I could give them to someone else…"
"I'm not worried about that. I just wanted to know why, that's all, but does that mean you bought baby clothes in hopes of talking to me about a baby? Cause you could've just spoken to me."
"Yes and no. I think consciously I got them cause I genuinely thought they were cute and most of them were on sale, and you know me, I hardly pass up a good sale." She laughs, "And then of course there's a part of me that pictured our next kid in them."
"I guess none of it matters anymore."
"Calliope, don't say that."
"No, I didn't mean it like that. I mean regardless of why you got them, they are here now. I'm sure some kid will look adorable in them and hopefully that kid will be ours."
"It will be. Eventually. You know religion isn't my thing, but isn't there some saying like 'keep the faith'?"
"Yes, babe. People do say that."
"Yeah, so keep the faith, Calliope." Kissing my forehead once again, she wraps an arm around me, keeping me as close as possible to her. "I love you to the moon and back. Calliope."
"I know. Me too." Our tiredness finally consumes us as we drift on to sleep. Undoubtedly with a lot on our minds.
Arizona's POV
An ideal morning would be to take up curled up with my wife sharing random thoughts, small laughs, and a few stolen kisses while the television hums in the background before our two adorable children come join us in bed. Unfortunately for me, those mornings rarely happen and today isn't any different.
"Callieeee…." I groan out while trying to savor a few more minutes of sleep. The sun shining brightly through the window and my wife's movements are making that difficult.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you." She replies, walking out of the bathroom.
"Why so early, babe?"
"Really? Did you forget?"
"Uh…help me out here, please. My brain isn't fully functioning yet." Sitting up in bed, I notice her attire and it all comes back to me. "Swim lessons."
"Yes, swim lessons that you so happily scheduled for me and Noah at eight thirty in the morning."
"I'm sorry. I think it was the only available class left."
"Hmm, I wonder why?" She sarcastically chuckles. "Is this suit too much?" Looking over herself, she questions her swimwear. "All I really have are bikinis and my one piece suit is dips a little too low at the chest if you catch my drift. I'm not really sure what's appropriate for a three year olds swim lesson."
"First of all you look hot." Grabbing her hand, I pull her down to sit next to me on the bed. "Second of all, as long as you aren't wearing that red thin-string bikini I'm okay. Cause that's for my eyes only. I don't want any dads or moms getting any funny ideas."
"Arizona." She humorously brushes off.
"It's not you I'm worried about, it's the other people. No, but in all seriousness you look fine. This blue piece covers all the important pieces and is very modest for a toddlers swim lesson."
"Good." Jumping up, she quickly slips on some shorts and a t-shirt before fixing her hair.
"How are you feeling?"
"I'm good. A little tired, but I think Noah and I will have fun. He likes the water."
"Yeah, that's great, but I mean with everything that happened last night."
"Oh, um, about as good as expected, you know?" I can tell I don't have her full attention, but I don't press her too much. "I'm gonna go wake up Noah and get him changed."
"Okay. Make sure he wears those swim trunks with the sharks on them. Those are his favorite."
"Yes dear!" She sings on her way out the bedroom. I decide to get up and freshen up a little in the bathroom. After checking on Sof, and seeing she's still sleeping I head downstairs to start a pot of coffee. Fifteen minutes later I hear Calliope and Noah make their way down the stairs.
"Morning mommy." Noah greets me. "Me and mama swim today!"
"I know, buddy. You're going to have such a good time. Do you want a quick breakfast?"
"I was thinking I'd get us something on the way back. I don't want anything to upset his stomach."
"Nothing big, I think we've got some berries in the fridge." Opening the refrigerator, I dig out some fruit for him to take in the car. "Did you get towels and a change of clothes?"
"Yeah, I've got a bag packed. We should really get going though, I haven't been to this new place so it might take me a while to find it."
"Okay, okay." Handing off some fruit, I walk them to the door. "So I can expect you guys back within a couple of hours?"
"Yeah, I think the lesson is only forty-five minutes."
"Sounds good. Have fun and don't drown."
"You know I can actually swim, right?"
"Yeah I know, sometimes I just forget because you're always floating around on one of those inflatable things." I tease. "Love you." With one last peck, half my family is out the door. Sofia and I spent the morning lounging around. Well I was lounging; Sofia was busy showing me her latest dance moves and singing along to one of her favorite shows when Callie and Noah returned home.
"How was it, Noah?" I ask as he waddles in barefoot and wrapped in a towel way to big for him.
"I don't like swimming." He pouts with his little arms folded across his chest aggressively.
"What happened? Where's mama?"
"I'm here, I'm here." With her phone stuck between her shoulder and ear, my wife walks in with a duffle bag and a box of donuts. "I got breakfast."
"Donuts!" Sofia cheers and eagerly takes the box from my wife.
"How was the lesson?" I ask a little concerned given my son's demeanor. Callie holds up a finger and walks into a different room talking to someone on the phone in Spanish.
"Guys, sit her for a sec. And share the donuts." Leaving them be for the moment, I follow Callie into another room. While I wait for her to finish her call, she gives me a polite smile. I can pick up a few words, but not enough to piece anything together especially given the speed at which she's talking. I can only assume its family since she usually talks to them in Spanish, even so it's rare occasion that she uses her second language.
"Okay, okay. I got it." She says continuing her pace around the room, "I gotta go. Bye." Hanging up the phone, she turns her attention to me. "What's up?"
"Who was on the phone?"
"Oh, um, just family." Raising an eyebrow in suspicion, she speaks up again. "My moms side of the family. I don't talk to them much, something came up they wanted me to know about."
"Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, I think so. I don't know. Let's not talk about my mom or her side of the family. I love them, but I get depressed talking about them."
"Fine. How were swim lessons?"
"Great! I mean Noah had a difficult time, but I think he'll warm up to it."
"He said he didn't like it."
"Everything was great during the first ten minutes when it was open swim and getting used to the water, but as soon as formal instructions were given he froze up. He wouldn't get off the wall, and when he did he was attached to me the whole time."
"Calliope, that doesn't sound like great to me."
"It's just gonna take some time. He'll get used to it."
"Mhmkay, if you say so."
"I promise it will be all good." She gives me a kiss for confirmation before taking both of my hands in hers. "I did some thinking last night and this morning and I've come to a decision."
"About?"
"I wanna try again as soon as possible. My body is already used to the hormones and we've got a little momentum going. I just don't want to wait, like why wait?" She rapidly rambles. It's very rare that Callie goes on these fast tangents; it's usually always me speaking too fast for my own good. "Plus Noah turns four really soon and I don't want him and the next kid to be too far apart. It worked with you on your second time, so maybe that luck will rub off on me. I just wanna keep going. I can set up an appointment next week hopefully. Then a few more weeks after that we test again. I could be pregnant in a month or two!" She yelps with heavy excitement. "What do you think?"
"I'm right there with you, babe." I'm a little surprised by her very energetic attitude, but deciding not to go against it, I support her all the way. I like this side of Callie, it's a rare sight, but it's surprising uplifting and contagious when she's so full energy. "Let's do it!"
"That's the spirit I'm looking for!" Grabbing my swiftly by the waist, she pulls me in for a very deep and passionate kiss. One we've shared many times before, but not with our kids just a few feet away. It takes me a few seconds to catch on and when I do she guides us back until my back meets the wall.
"Someone's in a good mood, aren't we?" Breaking for air, she brushes a few strands of hair out of my face and stares deeply into my eyes.
"I'm in a great mood, Arizona." She grins, showing off her pearly whites. "Let's eat donuts!"
"Yeah, okay." Leaving me a daze, she rejoins the kids in the other room.
"Mama can I have a second donut?" Sof asks sweetly. "Me too." Noah adds.
"You can have as many as you guys want!" She answers. "Arizona, get in here. I got your favorite. Sprinkles!"
"On my way!" I'm not sure of everything that just transpired in the last ten minutes, but something definitely did. I hate second-guessing my wife and sudden surge of energy, so I decide to just go with the flow and chalk it up to a really, really good morning.
AN: Some people kind of picked up on it at the end of the last chapter. There is some stuff brewing. As Shonda would say, "Trust the journey…"
Thanks for reading and to musicforsoul for helping me out.
