"Dr. Torres! Hold up." Callie stops to allow Owen to catch up to her in the hallway.
"What can I do for you Dr. Hunt?" The pair resumes walking.
"Remember Lieutenant Lowell?"
"He was a hard patient to forget. Isn't he due in today to start fitting for his prosthetic?"
"Precisely what I need to talk to you about; he's coming in this afternoon. I got a call from him last night. Apparently he has been selected to receive this new prosthetic that the DOD just designed for veterans. One amputee was chosen from each branch; a major requirement was that the veteran intended to return to active duty. Apparently he electing to amputate to return to duty was a big bonus in his selection."
"Will this affect our involvement with him in any way?"
"Partly. His case was supposed to be turned over to the DOD and they were to handle everything once he was selected, but he insisted that you and I continue to be in charge of his case. So the engineer that designed the prosthetic, the psychiatrist that cleared him to receive the prosthetic and the lawyer that is in charge of the project will all be here with him this afternoon."
"So make sure he gets a larger exam room to accommodate. I'll still be able to do my job, right?"
"Right."
"Okay, then. Sorry to be so abrupt, but I've got two ACL repairs before the good lieutenant arrives, so I need to get going."
"Alright, I just wanted to give you warning."
"Thank you for that. Barring any complications, I should be done in plenty of time, but if I'm not, can you make certain that the exam room is set up?"
"No problem. See you later." They part ways as Callie enters the scrub room and Owen heads down to the ER.
"And, done." Callie signs off on the last of her post-surgical notes before handing the chart off to a resident to keep tabs on the patient in recovery. Glancing down at her watch, so realizes that she has just enough time to grab a cup of tea before heading down to meet with Lieutenant Lowell.
Noticing that the coffee pot is empty, Callie starts a new pot after making her cup of tea, just as Arizona comes rushing into the room in a panic.
"There you are! We really need to talk."
"Okay, can we walk and talk? 'Cause I'm running late for an appointment." Callie rushes out the door towards the ortho department.
"Yeah, sure." Arizona rushes after her. "Umm, do you remember the conversation that we had awhile back about my family?"
"Brother's a lawyer, sister's a shrink, brother-in-law's an engineer; it was the same time you told me about Ashleigh. Look," Callie stops outside an exam room and turns to face her girlfriend, "I have to spend the next several hours fitting a kid that is barely legal to order a beer all while dealing with a bunch of Navy stooges – nothing against your siblings in saying that – so can this wait?"
"Uh, no, it really can't-" Arizona is cut off when Owen arrives, greeting the two women.
"Dr. Robbins, Dr. Torres, ready to do this?"
"Yes." Callie follows Owen into the exam room and stops short at the sight of the two men and one woman in the room, all in Navy blues, and all with three solid stripes and different insignia on the sleeves of their jacket. Immediately she recognizes the three officers and promptly steps out of the room, shutting the door behind her and turning around to her girlfriend. The blonde is standing there with an apologetic look.
"Yeah, the three 'Navy stooges' you'll be dealing with are my brothers and sister."
"Okay. They do know about this, right?" Callie points to her midsection to indicate what she meant by 'this'. Though she's into the final half of her pregnancy and there is a definite baby bump, she was one of the fortunate women that don't seem to show much of her pregnancy.
"Yes, they know about our little parasite." Arizona assures her, using the nickname that Christina had been using since learning that her former roommate is expecting. Resting her hands against her girlfriend's belly, she leans in to reassure her. "I'm sorry to spring this on you, but I just got the call from my mother saying they were in town, she wanted me to make sure that I knew so that we could meet up for dinner or something. I-"
"Hey, it's okay. Not the circumstances I'd imagined meeting them under – hey, you realize this is the first time I'm meeting your family? I'm almost 6 months pregnant and I haven't met your family yet." The pair laugh lightly before Arizona gives her a quick kiss.
"Go on, they're waiting. What do you say to inviting them over for Chinese and a movie tonight? No work talk allowed." Callie smiles brightly.
"Sure. See you afterwards."
With one last kiss and smile, Callie re-enters the room to face two looks of confusion and three gentle smirks.
"Is everything alright, Dr. Torres?" Charlie asks with his gentle smile.
"Fine. How are you doing?"
"Fantastic. And ready to get back to my unit."
"We both know that you were ready to get back to your unit long before I amputated." Callie takes a seat at the foot of the table he's sitting on and pulls back the blanket covering his stump.
"The Army doctors said that I had good blood flow in my stump and everything else looks good."
"Everything does look good."
"So we're good to go to fit me for this prosthetic?"
"Anything that you need to tell me – honestly." Callie looks at him pointedly, silently daring him to lie to her. Charlie hesitates slightly before answering.
"There are still some phantom pains, but it's manageable, no big deal."
"Phantom pains are a big deal, Lieutenant. They can really affect you once you're back in combat."
"I've been helping him deal with it." The female officer speaks up. Owen looks up to her before nodding.
"Alright then, let's get started." Callie turns to gather the plaster for the cast.
"Awesome." Charlie rubs his hands together in anticipation, bouncing slightly in his place. "Will Dr. O'Malley be joining us?"
"Um, Dr. O'Malley isn't part of the surgical program anymore. He was forced to leave the program early this year, right after your surgery actually."
"Is he alright?" Callie grins tightly at him.
"No, but he will be."
"Where is he now? Is he in another program?"
"He's at Shady Oaks Assisted Living facility. He was in a really bad car accident."
"I'm sorry to hear that." Charlie glances to the side, remembering that the three officers hadn't been introduced to Callie. "Oh, Dr. Torres, you weren't here when we did the introductions. This is Commander Lofton, Commander Grant, and Commander Lofton-Grant." He ends with the female officer.
"Commanders."
"We know who Dr. Torres is, and Nevada is fine. Congratulations by the way."
"Thank you. Remind me to show you the ultrasound photos later."
"You're pregnant, Dr. Torres? Congratulations!"
"Thank you."
"How do they know?" He motions to the three officers.
"It's their nephew."
"Oh." He looks confused for a moment, "I thought you two said that you only had a sister?"
"We do." One of the men answers. "And that would be her girlfriend." He turns to Callie, "and please call me Tommy."
"Matt." The third officer speaks up.
"Oh, awesome. How far along are you?"
"Twenty-two weeks."
"Have you thought of any names?"
"William Ford."
"Interesting."
"They're family names." Callie smiles up at him. "So, the fun part is over. Now you just get to sit around while this dries."
"Alright. Then what?"
"Then we'll call you for your first fitting when the prosthetic gets in."
"It shouldn't take more than a week or two." Matt speaks up. "We've been set up at Bremerton while we go through your fitting process."
"And how long will the fitting process take?"
"It will still be at least another year before you can return to active duty, Charlie. I warned you when you asked me to amputate that this could take time. You need to be patient."
"I know that, Dr. Torres, I do, I'm just-"
"I get it, you want it over with. I feel the same way every time I hear about the drinking contests the residents get into and wish that I could join them." Lieutenant Lowell breaks a smile at the comment, while Nevada is quick to cover her snort of amusement.
"I know the feeling. I felt the same way with my first pregnancy. 'Course, that was because she was a bit of a shock. It gets easier with each pregnancy."
"I'll have to take yours and Arizona's word for it. She's going next, and seeing as she's the one that has been pregnant already, she'll have to let me know."
"Wait, what? Arizona's going next?"
"I take it she left that part out of the 'we're having a kid' announcement. Yeah," Callie starts cleaning up. The two siblings are shocked, the in-law is looking on in amusement, and Charlie and Owen start looking uncomfortable as the conversation continues. "We figure three is a good number, even if it would technically be two, since Ashleigh is out of the house and on her own. She's thrilled about this, despite the age difference. When we announced the pregnancy in Miami, I think she was more excited than my mother. Especially when we told them it was a boy; I've got four nieces."
"Does your dad know?" Nevada questions with a sympathetic tone.
"Stop trying to shrink me. But no, he doesn't know. And I'm not totally certain that I want him to." Callie checks the cast and sees that it still has a ways to go. "Sooo, you two've got kids?"
"Yeah, a 7-year-old girl and a 3-year-old boy. Arizona didn't mention them?"
"Oh, she did. Maggie and Finn, Maggie was an 'oops' baby; Finn, totally planned. She was named for Matt's grandmother, and he was named for his father. She's in third grade after skipping second, definitely gets her brains from Arizona…"
"Don't you mean she gets them from Nevada?" Matt questions. "Cause I know I didn't have sex with Arizona."
"And the weirdness in this room has reached a new high. Oh look, the plaster is dry!" Callie moves to pull the cast off Charlie's stump. She hands it off to Matt who stows it away in the box he brought with him. "Okay, they'll give us a call when they're ready for the next step. Patience, remember?"
"Yeah, thanks, Dr. Torres."
"No problem." Callie gives him a smile before exiting the room.
"So, how did today go?" Arizona looks up as Callie enters the living room after her shower.
"Good. I get the feeling that I'll really like your siblings once I see them 'out of uniform' as it were. It seemed like everything that they said today was restrained out of respect."
"Like the response to 'Maggie gets her brains from me'?" Arizona grins widely as Callie settles herself into her side, wrapping an arm around the blonde's waist.
"Yes, and if that is him respectfully restrained, I'd hate to know what him letting loose is like." Arizona giggles softly.
"We can be a pretty wild group when we let loose…wait until the next family reunion."
"Family reunion?"
"When families gather to reunite." Arizona accepts the soft punch from her girlfriend at her smart-assed comment. "Yeah, we'll have them every five years or so. Gathering every generation together is a hoot."
"A 'hoot'?" Callie raises an eyebrow at the blonde's old-fashioned comment.
"Yes, a hoot. My dad served 20 years before he met my mom, and they were together for three more years before they got married. She's significantly younger than he is – 22 years," Arizona answers before Callie can ask. "Believe it or not, there never was a problem with either set of parents. Dad's parents died when Mom was pregnant with Nevada, but her parents are still alive – they're only a couple years older than Dad actually. I think the next reunion is supposed to be at their place. They own a massive piece of land in upstate New York that's been in the family for over a hundred years. It used to be a fully working ranch, but they've since scaled back, sold some of the land off, and now they breed horses. It's absolutely gorgeous, really. I can't wait for you to see it."
Throughout the story, Callie is paying more attention to her girlfriend than she is the story being told. When the blonde mentions her grandparents' ranch, her love for the place shines through in the soft expression that overtakes her facial features. There is pure love and happiness shining through that the brunette could only recall seeing once or twice. When she gets to the comment about bringing the younger woman to the ranch, Callie smiles back in excitement, but is prevented from responding when they hear a knock at the door.
Arizona lifts Callie's feet off her lap before getting up. Weaving around a few things that they haven't managed to hang up just yet, she opens the door to find her siblings standing on the other side, Matt carrying drinks, and Tommy with his arms full of food.
"I thought that we were going to order when you guys got here?" Arizona steps aside to let the trio in."
"We thought we'd save a step," Tommy toes off his shoes in the entry way, pushing them up aligned with the others'. "We went to the Chinese place you mentioned going to and got your usual."
"And what about Calliope's usual?" Setting the food down on the coffee table, Tommy motions to the box on the bottom. "Well, over the months you've mentioned four different kinds of fried rice: pork, chicken, beef and shrimp; orange chicken, kung pao chicken and beef stir fry. And we asked the owner what else you've been ordering lately for her cravings, and he told us of three others. Then there are three boxes of egg rolls and two of vegetable rolls. So hopefully we've got all the bases covered."
"An accommodating male, good thing I met Arizona first." Callie comments, while reaching for a box of beef stir fry.
"Why, you don't think you'd be able to resist me otherwise?" Tommy glances her way with a large grin, prominently displaying the crater-sized dimples it appears every Robbins uses to their full potential.
"Why is it that you're still single, again?"
"Too much travel. As much as I loved experiencing all the culture we did growing up, I hated having to change schools every year, sometimes twice a year. I could never subject a woman to that, let alone kids."
"Okay then."
Matt and Nevada have been silent throughout the entire exchange, taking in the surrounding house, and the large number of items still on the floor, particularly frames leaning against the walls.
"Didn't you move in here four months ago, Zee?" Nevada glances back to her sister briefly.
"Yes."
"So why are the walls still empty? Lord knows you've got enough photos to fill the spaces."
"Well my pregnant girlfriend and I work 80 hour weeks. We've figured out where everything is going to go, we just haven't had the time to put anything up. Friends of ours have promised to help us get it all up if we host Christmas dinner in return. Again, though, we're all doctors that work 80 hour weeks."
"So where is everything going?" Matt speaks up. "Are those what all the marks on the walls are?"
"Good eye." Callie comments.
"Matt's the analytical freak in the family." Tommy comments with a grin, letting his brother-in-law know that he's joking with him. Matt smiles in return before getting up and retrieving the hammer he noticed on the side table on his way in.
"Come on lazy," he pulls at his wife's arm, "let's get some of these up for them." Matt has already hammered in the first nail and is putting the large print in its place before Arizona can comment.
"You don't have to do that, Matt."
"Consider it my housewarming gift." He grins back at the blonde before continuing with the next nail. "Give me a hand here, Tommy." Matt motions to the large framed Audubon that's going in the center of the wall between the kitchen and living area. Together the two get the large print up before returning to work, Matt hammering the nails into the selected spaces while Tommy hangs up the frames. Only a few times do one of the doctors have to correct him when he's about to hang the wrong one in the wrong space. In less than an hour, after hanging up a large painting over the fireplace, the room they were sitting in as well as the entry way has all of the chosen frames hanging in their place.
"Let's eat, then we'll finish the rest of the house." Tommy declares, sitting down and taking up his dinner again, Matt reluctantly following.
The rest of that night followed peacefully, the three siblings spent the evening ribbing each other endlessly while hanging up the rest of the photos in the house. Undoubtedly the stairway walls took the longest. That was the hallway that was dedicated to the family photos. Several dozen various frames, some holding multiple candid shots, others holding large formal ones, including the wedding photos of, then - Lieutenant Daniel Lofton and his bride, Katherine Robbins, and Matthew and Nevada. Every photo that was taken out of a box had a story to it, and the siblings spent more time reminiscing about the times, than they did working. When the photos that were Callie's came up, the three would stop working, call Matt downstairs, join Callie on the couch and ask about the events surrounding the scene in the photo. Finally, just after midnight, the siblings have finished the hallway, just as Callie and Matt finish the rest of the rooms. Before they can comment, Arizona pushes the couple into the guest bedroom and pulls out the futon for her brother.
One more happy memory to be shared, though there was one person that would be missing out on the stories.
But not for long…
Okay, so at some point this week, in the seconds before I fell asleep, I realized that this baby should technically be called Lofton-Torres, not Robbins-Torres, but we're going to keep it as Robbins-Torres.
As for the next chapter, I'm warning you now that it's gonna be awhile. I know how I want it to go, but I've started and deleted it five times already, cause it didn't go how I wanted it to. I'm thinking that there's only gonna be one or two more chapters, and maybe an epilogue, so be prepared for the end of this story.
I've had an idea floating around for a Calzone Christmas fic, just a little one-shot, so I'm gonna try and put that to paper and post it before the holiday.
And speaking of the holiday…safe travels for those going away to spend it with family, and happy holidays to all. And for those that won't be celebrating…Happy Friday!