After picking up Arizona's favorite Chinese take-out, Callie and Sofia were walking up the steps of Madison and Arizona's Seattle home. Sofia reached up to ring the bell after trying the door which was locked. When Sofia was expected to be dropped off the door was usually unlocked but tonight Arizona was not expecting any company. Hearing the door bell, she placed Maddox down in his crib. "I'll be right back baby" she whispered after just feeding Emma and getting her to fall asleep.
Arizona walked down the stairs quickly hoping that the visitor wouldn't ring the bell twice and risk waking the sleeping baby. "Hey?" she said opening the door to see Callie and Sofia.
"Hi!" Sofia exclaimed. She was excited to surprise her mama. "We came to help you with the babies" she said pushing herself past her mama and running up the stair case.
"Be quiet please Sofia Robbin" Arizona called out watching her bounce up the stairs, "Emma just went to sleep."
"Hi" she said turning back to Callie who was still standing on the door step. "Come in" she invited.
"I asked Sofia what she wanted to do tonight and she told me you had been upset lately because two babies were hard work so she suggested we help you out tonight" Callie explained. "I hope that's okay?"
"No. It's awesome" Arizona greeted with a smile. She was very happy to have the opportunity to have a conversation with a grown up.
"I brought your favorite" Callie said holding up the bag of food. "I mean I hope it's still your favorite" she asked.
"Yes Callie, it's still my favorite. Thank you" Arizona replied walking them toward the kitchen.
"I was just about to feed Maddox" Arizona said listening for crying coming from the upstairs, "but it sounds like he is consumed with his big sister's presence."
"Do you need some help?" Callie asked eagerly.
"Sure" Arizona replied seeing the excitement in Callie's face. Arizona opened the fridge to take stock of how much breast milk she had, not enough she thought. "You do that and I'll pump." she said leading Callie out of the kitchen and up the stair case.
Arriving in the nursery the two doctors stopped to take a mental photo of the scene playing out in front of them. Sofia was kneeling on the floor with baby Maddox lying in her lap staring back up at his sister. "That's the cutest thing I've ever seen" Callie whispered into Arizona's ear.
"She is amazing with them" Arizona replied placing one hand on her heart. Arizona's heart panged at the memory that flooded her mind. When she lost her and Callie's baby all those years ago she watched Callie's heart break in front of her. It was going to be the issue that pushed everything over the top when Arizona said she wasn't ready to have another baby and then wasn't ready to find a surrogate. Now faced with the scene that could have been theirs if Callie wouldn't have given up on their marriage Arizona couldn't fight back her emotions. "I'm going to go pump if you want to feed him" she said towards Callie not wanting to my eye contact with her.
"Okay" Callie agreed walking into the room towards the tiny infant bottle in hand.
A few hours later the Chinese food had been eaten, two babies had been bathed, fed again, changed and put down for a couple of hours with an 8 year guarding their room insisting on making a pallet on the floor. "I can take her home" Callie offered.
"Would you like a glass of wine?" Arizona countered. "I would love some grown up interaction"
"Sure" Callie replied with a laugh.
The two women headed downstairs and into the kitchen where Arizona was pouring a glass of white for herself and a glass of red for Callie.
"Thank you" Callie replied taking the glass from Arizona.
"Thank you" Arizona said placing the glass to her lips. "Oh God, I can't remember the last time I had a glass of wine" she replied tasting the flavor on her lips. "I forgot how much I loved you" she said directly to the glass.
"Your babies are beautiful" Callie said quietly.
"Thank you" Arizona replied "I think they look so much like Mad."
"I always wanted a tiny little Arizona" Callie admitted.
"Really?" Arizona asked.
"Yes. Oh my God. The blue eyes and blonde hair and that cute dimpled smile" Callie replied quickly, "who doesn't want that?" she added.
A moment of silence filled their air between them as each sipped from their beverage.
"How is Dan?" Arizona asked out of the blue.
"Um. He's good. He's been back to work for a while now but only on desk duty. It was really hard for him to understand and admit to himself that he would never be cleared for street duty" Callie answered.
"It really is amazing what you and Derek were able to do" Arizona complimented proudly.
"Yeah" Callie said retreating within her own mind for a few minutes to remember Derek while Arizona did the same.
"I don't know how Meredith did it. I don't know how she got through all of that" Arizona said taking a large sip. "I couldn't imagine losing Madison" Arizona whispered mostly to herself.
Both women sat in reflection of their lost friend and everything they had all been through together.
Looking for a change in subject, "Are you seeing anyone?" Arizona asked suddenly.
Callie gulped down her last sip of wine caught off guard by Arizona's surprising question.
"Uh" Callie managed to squeak out but was interrupted by Arizona's phone ringing. She could see a photo pop up on the screen of Madison holding both of their babies.
Arizona picked up the phone "Hi" she said sweetly. "Yes there are sleeping. Callie and Sofia came over to help me with them because I was a little worn out so they helped me feed and bath them and now Sofia is asleep on the floor in the nursery and Callie and I are having a glass of wine" Arizona replied making eye contact with Callie. "Ok. Hold on" Arizona said placing the phone down on the counter and putting it on speaker.
"Okay, you're on speaker" Arizona said.
"Hi Callie" Madison said from the phone.
"Hi" Callie replied leaning in towards the phone.
"Thank you for being there and helping Arizona" Madison said gratefully. "Thank Sofia for me too" Madison added. "Maybe I will pick her up a present"
"Mad, Do not get her another soccer jersey" Arizona ordered. "We can barely keep her out of last one"
"That was from Sam" Madison replied.
"I never believed that Madison. Do not get another one" Arizona argued.
"What about a puppy?" Madison said quickly.
"Excuse me, what?" Callie replied almost choking on her wine.
"That is a horrible idea" Arizona replied.
"Why? I've been thinking about it for a few days and I think it's a good idea. Who doesn't love a puppy?" Madison asked.
"You've been thinking about it for a few days?" Arizona repeated. "A few days?"
"Uh, yes?" Madison replied not so sure of her suggestion anymore. "Callie?" Madison asked looking for an ally.
"No, Mad I can already tell you that Callie and her vagina vote no" Arizona teased causing Callie to burst out laughing.
"I'm sorry, what?" Madison asked confusedly.
"Nothing" Arizona replied laughingly.
"How about we table that topic for a while" Callie offered the truce. "And no one says the word puppy to the tiny human" she added. "Arizona?" Callie asked her opinion.
"Sing it" she said loudly.
"Fine" Madison said disappointedly. "How are my babies?" she asked changing the subject.
"Perfect" Arizona cooed. "They miss you"
"How do you know?" Madison asked.
"They are looking for you" Arizona replied softly. "When I'm holding Emma, Maddox is wondering where the other person is. I can see the disappointment in his eyes when you don't scoop him up."
Callie felt like she was intruding upon a private moment as she picked up her glass and brought it to her lips.
"I miss them too. And I miss you. Like a lot. How are you doing? Are you all good … down there?" Madison said emphasizing the last part. "Is Callie still there? "She asked when she didn't receive an answer from her very embarrassed wife.
"Yes" Callie answered uncomfortably.
"Sorry" Madison replied. "I've got to go, I just wanted to call and say hi. Maybe tomorrow night we can Skype?" she asked.
"Yes baby" Arizona agreed. "Take care of yourself Mad" Arizona instructed.
"And your knee" Callie added.
"Yes Doc" Madison's reply was directed toward Callie.
"Take care of my babies. I love you A. I'll see you soon" Madison said quickly.
"I love you" Arizona added before they exchanged goodbyes.
"A puppy?" Callie asked.
"She can be impulsive" Arizona replied. "It's one of the things that I appreciate about her" Arizona admitted, "after the crash I thought I would have to plan out everything in my life in advance because of my limitations but Madison helped me to be confident again."
Callie sat quietly listening to every word out of Arizona's mouth.
Arizona took a deep breath and released a very deep exhale, "I was out of control for the longest time after the crash Callie. I was a horribly miserable person and I was the worst to you and I think it was because at the time I thought you were the one who amputated my leg and that you deserved to live with the consequences of those actions" Arizona took another deep breath. "That was just a bunch of crap though. I blamed everyone for what happened to me when it was no one's fault. I took all my anger of losing my leg and all the anger of losing Mark and all the anger of feeling like I didn't deserve this to happen to me out on you for years. I treated you horribly. I cheated. I broke our vows and you still gave me another chance" Arizona said fighting back the tears of guilt. "I thought that after we tried again that things were getting better and I was starting to feel more and more like me or what I thought I was before the crash but then we lost the baby" the tears were impossible to hold back now.
"Arizona" Callie tried to comfort her while she was barely holding on to her own emotions.
"Why didn't we try harder?" Arizona asked suddenly taking a large gulp of wine looking for some added liquid courage. "In our marriage, why did you give up?"
Callie froze. It was a question she had been asking herself for years and now Arizona was the one doing the asking and she still didn't have an answer.
"Was it that hard to try?" Arizona asked.
"It seemed that way at the time" Callie replied "I don't know Arizona. I was so angry because I felt like I had given you everything you needed to get better after the crash. I felt like I was there for you and allowed you to take your anger and sadness out on me and then you seemed better and then we lost the baby and then we discussed the possibility of a surrogate and then all of a sudden Hermann came along and you were focused on nothing but work and then didn't want to have another baby and I felt like you just decided not to give me what I wanted like you just decided to punish me again." Callie finished as Arizona sat listening carefully.
"I wish I wouldn't have walked out of that room" Callie said referring to the day at the therapist office. "I'll admit that for a little while I did feel better. I felt relieved that I didn't have to deal with any of our life together anymore, I felt relieved that all I had to worry about was me and Sofia of course but that started to get lonely. Then I thought, I was ready to start dating again and that went okay but it just wasn't the same. It never felt right and eventually I started to miss you but it was too late because I had said some mean things to you that I wish I could take back and you know me and my pride" Callie said just before draining the rest of her wine glass. "Then you met Madison."
"Is it weird for you to work so closely with my wife?" Arizona asked feeling extremely buzzed.
"It's so weird" Callie said with a hearty laugh. "It's even weirder that I've seen your wife in the locker room in her underwear almost naked."
"How is that weird? Isn't that where they are supposed to be in their underwear?" Arizona asked not following with Callie was saying.
"It's weird that I think she has an amazing body" Callie admitted.
"She does have an amazing body so that's not weird" Arizona said proudly.
"I thought she was hot when I first met her" Callie admitted.
"She is hot." Arizona said proudly.
"I may have used her for inspiration once or twice" Callie winced as the words slipped out of her mouth.
"That's weird" Arizona announced.
"That was way before you two started dating" Callie said trying to recover from her over share.
Arizona sat contemplating Callie's words for a few seconds before deciding, "Nope. Still weird."
Desperately wanting a change of subject Callie realized she had never met anyone in Madison's family. "What is her family like?" she asked Arizona.
"Well her mother passed away last year" Arizona replied.
"I heard that" Callie confirmed.
"She was a very sweet lovely woman. Her father is just like my dad. A military man of few words. He is still living in Washington where Mad and Madden grew up. I don't think he will make the trip to Canada but Madden and his wife and their kids will be there" Arizona confirmed.
"Ah, the twin brother" Callie said. "I've heard a lot about him from Sam."
Arizona giggled, "Sam has a total crush on Madden and has for years. Mad told me when they were in college together that Sam would follow him around like a love sick puppy dog. He and his wife, Jaime, are both great people.
Callie took the liberty of refilling her wine glass and empting the bottle of red. Arizona took the remainder of her 3rd glass of wine into the living room and plopped down on the sofa glass in hand. Callie followed taking a seat on the sofa next to her ex-wife.
"Do you think Mad will make it through this tournament on her knee?" Arizona asked. "I need you to tell me the truth Callie. What should I be prepared for here?"
"Honestly Arizona, I don't know. Two months ago I would never have imagined that she would be where she is currently without immediate surgery. I wish I had a better answer for you but it seems like if she is lucky and doesn't take any hard tackles and takes care of herself and attends all treatments maybe she can do it. I don't really know" Callie answered honestly.
"Her ex-girlfriend will be there" Arizona said quickly her mind now floating through many different thoughts due to the effects of the alcohol.
"What?" Callie questioned.
"She plays for England's national team" Arizona said lifting the glass to her lips. "Of course she's blonde and gorgeous and has two legs."
"Oh my God Arizona, stop" Callie said trying to hold back her laughter.
"What. She is. She does. We've met a couple of times and I don't like her" Arizona admitted.
"What's her name?" Callie asked opening up the browser on her cell phone.
"Kate Sterling" Arizona answered.
Callie typed the name into her google browser and waited to see the image pop up.
"Wow. Your right" Callie said showing her phone to Arizona. "She does have two legs" Callie teased.
"Calliope" Arizona whined.
"I don't think you have anything to worry about Arizona" Callie tried to comfort.
"Why? Because we are married?" Arizona asked.
The room was once again filled with an awkwardness that neither woman knew how to ease.
A/N: Thank for reading. Comments/Reviews welcome!