A/N: Finally back with another chapter! Last week was crazy! Enjoy!

Chapter 9

The spring was back in Callie's step as she made her way through the halls of the hospital. Her talk with Aria the night before released a lot of pent-up emotions. A part of her still felt bad about keeping this from her mother, but she knew she needed to give Aria time decide what she wanted to do.

Remembering that her phone rang during surgery, she pulled it out of her lab coat pocket and smiled down at the wallpaper. A few weekends ago, Callie had been stuck at the hospital, so Arizona had decided to have a movie marathon with their girls to keep them occupied. By the time Callie made it home, all three were passed out on the couch, with Amelia tucked into her Mama's shoulder and Alexia's head in her lap. Callie couldn't pass up to chance to capture the moment.

She opened her messages and went straight to Arizona's name, wanting to make sure her wife wasn't cancelling on her. They were supposed to meet up for lunch, since neither of them had any surgeries that afternoon.

"I'm in our on-call room," was all the message said.

Callie turned around and headed for the stairs, taking them two at a time towards the peds floor. "Their" on-call room, as they liked to call it, was on her wife's floor. It was the first room they'd broke their 'no sex in the hospital' rule in.

Inside the room Arizona was sitting in the middle of the twin bed with note cards and papers all around her. The blonde had a note card in her hand, her lips moving as she read the words on it. She was so engrossed in what she was doing that she hadn't even realized she was no longer alone.

With a grin, Callie opened and closed the door, louder this time, but there was still no reaction from her wife. Walking further into the room, she called out a gentle "Arizona," not wanting to scare the other woman.

Arizona's head shot up and immediately locked eyes with her wife. "Oh, hey."

"Hey," Callie said back as she moved some things on the bed to sit down. "What are you doing in here? I thought we were meeting downstairs for lunch."

"I know, I'm sorry. I need to study. I've only got two weeks left until I take my boards," Arizona explained.

"You also need food," Callie pointed out. Her wife was more than ready for the test, a fact Arizona refused to believe. But Callie knew she'd be fine, she'd helped her study on several occasions and knew she was well prepared. "You can't think straight on an empty stomach."

Arizona sighed, put the note card down in her lap, and laid her head on her wife's shoulder. "I know. I'm just freaking out. This test is huge and if I don't pass it, then what?"

"Then you can flip burgers at McDonald's," Callie joked, earning her a light slap to the arm. "Seriously though, you're going to do just fine. After all, the Robbins study method never fails."

"Well, how about we use that method right now," Arizona whispered, already getting aroused at the thought. Callie's study method, that she dubbed 'The Robbins Method', had brought them both a lot of pleasure in the past. It always started out with the testee losing an article of clothing if they got an answer wrong, or the tester losing an article if the testee got it right. Once the clothes were gone, they moved into sexual favors with each question.

Callie smiled and turned her head just enough to place a kiss on Arizona's forehead before pulling away. "How about I go grab some lunch first and then I'll help you study," she offered. Even if Arizona wasn't hungry, she was starving.

"Alright, fine, you win. Go get us some food," Arizona agreed. But before Callie could stand back up, she grabbed the sides of her lab coat and placed a deep kiss on her wife's lips. "Hurry back," she whispered as they pulled apart.

All Callie could do was nod her head as she headed out the door, intending to do just that.

A little while later the two women lay cuddled together as they tried to catch their breaths. Arizona's note cards and papers long forgotten, the ones that crinkled underneath them no longer usable.

"You know, I've heard positive reinforcement is an effective tool, but damn," Arizona smiled, reliving the pleasure Callie had just given her with her tongue alone. Apparently even after all these years of marriage, her wife still had some tricks up her sleeve.

Callie nuzzled her face into Arizona's neck and kissed the bare skin. With an arm around Arizona's waist, she pulled them so they were chest-to-chest. "See, no way you can fail that test," she whispered before kissing Arizona slowly. "I just want to stay in this bed with you all day."

"Mmm. Me too. But we probably ought to go back to work soon. I'm surprised no one has missed us yet." If Arizona had estimated right, it had been more than two and half hours since Callie had come back with their lunches.

"You're right. At least we should actually get to go home at the same time tonight," Callie smiled. As a resident, Arizona was often stuck at the hospital much later than Callie. They were both hoping that once she became an attending that would change.

"Good point," Arizona said softly as she tried to stay awake. Callie had exhausted her and now all she wanted to do was sleep.

"Don't fall asleep," Callie warned. They really did need to get dressed and back to work. She wanted to visit Nicky and Aria before she went home as well.

"But I'm so comfy," Arizona whined as she cuddled even closer to her wife.

Callie let out a full belly laugh at her wife's whine. Sometimes she could forget that her wife was now a 30 year old surgeon and not the 18 year old girl she'd married. Sure Arizona had matured over the years, but in a lot of ways she was still that same girl Callie met all those years ago. And she couldn't be happier about that.

"Well you won't be comfy for long," Callie told her. Callie untangled herself from her wife and began looking for her clothes, tossing Arizona's at her as she found them. Though Arizona didn't even attempt to put them on.

Once Callie was dressed, she walked back over to Arizona, who was now pouting, and kissed her forehead, nose and finally her lips. "I'm going to stop in Nicky's room while I'm up here. I'll see you later. I love you."

"I love you, too," Arizona huffed, upset about not getting her way, even though she knew Callie was right.

~CA~

Down the hall, Aria was busy on her laptop trying not to get too far behind at work. She knew Nicky would be just fine on his own for a few hours, and that Holly would even come sit with him if she asked, but she couldn't bring herself to leave him. Her son was always at the very top of her priority list.

Movement out of the corner of eye caused her to look up. She was only vaguely surprised to see Callie. Taking in Callie's appearance, particularly her hair, Aria smirked. She wasn't sure if they were at a place where they could tease each other, but she couldn't let the opportunity pass. "Interesting hairdo you've got going on there," she quipped. "Either you've been working hard, or hardly working."

"Dammit, knew I forgot something," Callie muttered, heading quickly to the adjoined bathroom to fix her hair. "Good thing I stopped in here first and not a patients room," she told Aria as she came back into the room.

"Ah, so you were hardly working," Aria smirked.

"Shut up," Callie told her in a voice that let Aria know she wasn't mad. "If you must know, I was helping Arizona study for her boards."

"I'll bet you were."

Callie groaned. Apparently Aria was going to be as bad as Tim. How was it that both her and Arizona had older siblings that never let up once they got going. "I was!" And apparently she couldn't let it go either.

"Uh huh, sure. If that's your story," Aria said, shaking her head like she didn't believe her.

"What you fighting about?" Nicky broke in. He'd been trying to watch his cartoons, but he'd never seen his mom act like that with his doctors.

"Nothing you need to worry about sweetie," Aria assured, ashamed she'd forgotten for a few moments that her son could hear them. At least neither woman had said anything too graphic.

Nicky shrugged, not really interested anyway. "Do I get out of here yet, Dr. Callie?" he changed topics. He figured if he kept asking, eventually someone would say yes.

"Actually Dr. Callie is um," Aria started, looking to Callie to make sure it was okay. Callie just nodded, it wasn't her choice anyway it was Aria's. Plus her girls already knew. "Dr. Callie isn't just your doctor."

"She's not?"

"No, she's also your aunt," Aria told him.

Nicky's eyes opened wide. "Like Aunt Beth?"

Aria smiled, knowing he understood. "Yes, like Aunt Beth, only Callie is my sister and Beth is your dad's sister."

"Oh," Nicky replied. Turning to Callie, "Am I supposed to call you Aunt Callie now?"

Callie smiled and sat down in the chair by his bed. "If you want to. I'm more than happy to be Aunt Callie. And guess what?"

"What?" Nicky asked excitedly. Already, Callie was nicer to him then Aunt Beth, so he couldn't imagine it would get any better.

"Dr. Arizona is my wife, so she's your aunt too. And you have two cousins. We told them all about you last night and they are excited to meet you."

"Really?" He'd never had cousins before, wasn't really even sure what that meant, but it sounded like fun.

"Really," Callie told him. "Maybe tomorrow they can stop by after school. If that's okay with you and your mom."

Nicky turned to his mother. "Can they?"

Aria smiled at the look on her son's face. "Of course they can." Maybe she should take a page from her son's book. This whole situation was so confusing to her, but to him it was nothing but exciting.

"Yay!" he yelled.

Nicky turned back to his cartoons, done with the conversation for now, so Callie got up and went around the bed closer to Aria so they could talk quietly. There was something in that conversation that had her wondering.

"Can I ask you a question? And you totally don't have to answer it if you don't want too," she quickly added. She didn't want Aria to feel put on the spot. "Where is his dad? You've been doing this alone so I was just curious."

"I'm not sure. Last I heard he was in New York, I think."

"You don't know?" Callie asked without accusation. She'd already told Aria how she got pregnant with Amelia so she hoped the other woman would know she wasn't judging her.

"He's a musician, he travels a lot," Aria explained.

"Ah." Callie understood now. And it made her even more curious than before. She knew Aria was a lawyer, so that seemed like an odd combination. Although Aria seemed like a fun girl, she also had that tough as steel thing going on, proving she was probably a powerful opponent in the court room.

"Yeah, he wasn't exactly my type," Aria started, already knowing what Callie was thinking. "I think that's what I liked most about him. It wasn't really meant to be serious between us, but when I got pregnant we decided to live together and get married. It only took two weeks of us living together to realize it would never work in the long run. We were just too different. He visits Nicky when he can, but it's not very often."

"That sucks," Callie told her. "But it makes you one of us. Seems like it's a requirement in this family for the women to get pregnant out of wedlock," she joked. "Although, at least you were an adult with a stable career," she said more seriously.

"I can't even imagine what it was like for you," Aria sympathized. "Doing that all on your own and still going to school. Honestly, I'm more than a little impressed with all you've accomplished."

"Thanks. It wasn't easy, but I wasn't entirely alone. Sitting by Amelia's incubator when she was born sucked because I was alone for that. But for the rest, I had the Robbins family. They were there for me and Amelia the first day we stepped into their home. I'll forever be grateful they moved here."

"And that one of them happened to be the love of your life." Aria knew it didn't need to be said, but she said it anyway.

"There is that," Callie agreed. "Honestly I don't think I would have made it though med school without Arizona by my side. And I wouldn't have Lex either." Her life without her wife and daughter, that was a thought she just didn't want to even consider.

"I understand that. Even knowing how it ended, I wouldn't change my relationship with Oscar for the world because it gave me Nicky. He's the best thing in my life," Aria said, her eyes moving to smile at her boy.

"I know what you mean. My girls, on occasion, drive me to the brink of insanity, but I wouldn't trade them for anything in the world. They are good kids really, but even they can't escape all the drama that seems to find pre-teen and teen girls." She knew she had it lucky. Although they still had three years before Lex hit the teen years. Then it was anyone's guess.

"Whatever made you decide to have two kids in college?" Aria asked. Although she was asking more because she was impressed, it did seem like it was probably a lot of work. And it wasn't like Alexia was an accident.

"That was all my wife's idea," Callie answered quickly. "She thought Amelia needed a playmate while we were studying and stuff. I kind of thought she was crazy myself, but agreed to it anyway. And I've never once regretted it."

"You guys thinking about having more kids?" Aria asked. She'd been thinking a lot about it herself. She didn't want Nicky to be an only child, but she wasn't having much luck in the love department so if she wanted another baby she'd likely be doing it alone.

Callie took a moment before answering. She didn't want to say yes right now because of the decision she'd made with Arizona about not telling everyone until they had something to tell. And they hadn't even started trying just yet. Callie figured they'd wait until after Arizona's boards so that they would have more time together.

"We've talked about it. It's a definite possibility." It was enough of an answer to satisfy curiosity without revealing anything. "What about you?" she asked, more to make conversation than anything else. She wanted to know everything about her sister.

"I've been thinking about it, but being a single parent to one kid is hard. I can't imagine going it alone with two."

"You wouldn't be alone," Callie quickly assured her. "If it's something you decide you really want, Arizona and I will be there for you. I know we didn't start off on the best of terms, and that was my fault. I'd really like us to be friends though, sisters even."

"I'd like that. And thank you."

"No problem," Callie said sincerely. "I better go check on all my patients before I go home," she told Aria as soon as she realized what time it was. "I'd like to get out of here at a decent time today," she smiled. "I'll stop by tomorrow with the girls though."

"Sounds good," Aria responded. She was glad to spend so much time with Callie, but she knew the other woman was in the hospital to work. "I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Bye bye Nicky," Callie added as she left the room. Just a quick check of her patients and she'd finally get to head home. And if she was lucky, she'd get to do some more "studying" with her wife.