AN: Just because I said doom and gloom, doesn't mean I'm as terrible as the writer's of Grey's Anatomy. Cause sometimes, they suck.
"You're staring again." Meredith whispered at her shoulder, and Callie felt herself jump a little.
She was, she totally was. And even when Meredith had startled her, Callie just kept right on staring. She could stare at Arizona holding Timmy with Sofia standing by their sides forever.
Arizona was sitting in a rocking chair beside their son's NICU bed, holding Timmy tightly to her chest with her left arm, and holding Sofia close with her right, showing their daughter her new brother, softly talking and answering questions, ensuring that the little girl was included. It was way past her bedtime, but Callie had already made the decision that she wouldn't be going to school tomorrow anyway, and plus her grandparents were coming in a couple hours, so it was a special day.
"Hey Mer," She whispered back, still just staring at her family.
After Alex had found them in the tunnels, they'd both gotten to hold the baby for five minutes exactly, and even though Alex was technically Timmy's doctor, when he'd made Callie put Timmy back in the NICU bed, he'd sounded pained and like a friend. But he'd done it. And he was standing there now, hovering close enough that while he checked on the other babies in the NICU, Callie could see how his eyes darted to Timmy's monitors and then to Arizona and Sofia.
"How's Katie?" She asked, because if Meredith was here now, that means she was done in surgery.
"She'll be okay," Callie breathed a sigh of relief. She kind of understood how Arizona felt now, from Sofia's birth, and she could understand Mark's fear. And they both loved her, deeply, she just had a passing affection for the woman who'd carried Timmy for them. "Her recovery will be similar to yours."
"Thanks Mer, and thanks for taking care of Sofia, we were trying to get one of our sitters to pick her up when we got your text." She had bumped her shoulder with Meredith's, who offered a small smile back, but Callie noticed that she too was staring.
"Go be with them, and then tomorrow I'll yell at you a little bit for not telling any of us. And you don't get to bring up the fact that I disappeared for a year and came back with a baby." Callie laughed, and Meredith bumped her shoulder into her own this time, a smile on her face as she turned and walked away.
Grabbing the pink NICU gown, Callie did stop staring and walked into the room. As she was getting closer, she noticed Alex gesture to one of the nurses out of the corner of her eye, and suddenly they were bringing her a rolling stool. She nodded to him, and he nodded back, still hovering in the background, still watching.
"Hey guys," she whispered. Sofia sighed, and moved to lean against her side, so Callie wrapped an arm around her waist, holding her daughter close as they both looked at Arizona and Timmy.
"Hi mommy," Sofia whispered. "Did you know I have a brother?"
"Yes, little bug, I did. He's right there in momma's arms."
"No, like before he came here. Where did he come from?" Callie didn't regret not telling Sofia about Timmy, and though she felt a little bit bad about springing it on her and then introducing them in the span of twenty minutes, she'd handled it very well. She was curious. They'd had the discussion of bringing another baby into the family multiple times over the last ten months, but after she was devastated when Katie's first implantation didn't take, they had decided not tell her.
They knew that they were probably holding on to previous pain and grief from their own lives, and maybe probably wasn't a good idea to spring something so monumental on their almost nine year old, but Callie still didn't regret it.
"You remember Katie?" She asked, and Sofia nodded, her eyes darting between her two moms.
"Well, like last time Katie got pregnant with our baby and now he's here." Sofia had asked a million uncomfortable questions about pregnancy and surrogacy that first time, and they had answered them the best they could. But when she had boiled it down to the fact that she was going to have a brother or sister like her best friend, her questions about the pregnancy had stopped and all she'd asked was 'when?'
"Okay, but why is he named Timmy?"
But it was Arizona answered, "I've told you about your Uncle Tim, remember?" Sofia nodded again, her gaze drifting down to the baby. "Uncle Tim was my brother, just like Timmy is yours."
"Where is Uncle Tim?" Sofia asked. And Callie watched as a flash of pain crossed Arizona's face, it was gone in less than a second, but by the way she swallowed, Callie knew that her wife was trying not to cry. This had been an emotional day, mentions of her brother didn't make Arizona cry anymore, but today Callie felt like she could cry at sad commercials on TV.
So she answered for Arizona, "He's in heaven baby, with Daddy and Uncle Derek." And her wife's smile and slight nod, Callie knew that that had been the right answer. And though she'd never met Tim Robbins, had never had the privilege of meeting Arizona's brother and get to know the man that had died for his country, the man that they named their son after, she knew that he was with Mark and Derek and Lexie, and all of their friends.
"Okay," was all Sofia had said. They had tried to keep Mark's memory alive for Sofia. And Callie wasn't sure that they were doing a good job. Sofia knew who her father was, knew all about the man, they had pictures of him in their house and in her room, and made sure that she still carried his name, but he'd died before she could form any memories of him herself. They would answer her questions when she asked them, but it still saddened her that Sofia would never know Mark for herself.
They sat there, the four of them, for long moments in silence, just being a family. Arizona was holding a sleeping Timmy and Callie was holding a falling asleep Sofia. It was late now, definitely past her bedtime, but she had been fighting to stay awake for her grandparents and because she wanted to see her new brother. But they had promised her that he would be around tomorrow, and that since she got to skip school tomorrow, she'd get to see him whenever she wanted.
"Hey guys," Alex came over and whispered, his hand coming to rest on Arizona's shoulder. "Mr. Timothy needs to go back into the NICU bed for a little bit."
This roused Sofia a bit, and she blinked slowly looking around before she asked, "Can I kiss him goodbye first Uncle Alex?"
"Absolutely Squirt, did you know that kisses from big sisters is some of the most powerful medicine?"
"Really?" She asked, voice full of wonder as she moved from Callie's arms back to Arizona's side. Callie's heart felt full at the look on her daughter's face, the way that she leaned against Arizona's arm as she held Timmy to her, and the way that Sofia was being careful and slow in her movements as she leaned down to kiss his ruddy cheek.
"Totally." Alex said with a smile, taking the baby from Arizona and placing him back in the NICU bed.
He'd said that the baby didn't need to be there for long, this was mostly precautionary, but Callie was still worried. Sofia had lived in this NICU for just over three months, a couple beds down from where they were sitting by Timmy's bed.
Callie watched as Sofia climbed into Arizona's lap and cuddled in, her head resting against Arizona's chin as the blonde wrapped Sofia in her arms. It hardly took a minute for her to fall asleep, and Arizona didn't look far behind.
"I'm gonna go grab our parents from the airport, are you going to stay here?" She asked, lowering her voice even more in the quiet night time of the NICU, all three of her loves giving into sleep. She reached up and stroked Arizona's cheek, and was rewarded with a lazy sleepy smile.
"Yeah," Arizona mumbled, quickly falling further into sleep. "We'll stay here. I'll wait up for you." The words were falling from her lips, a bit slurred and jumbled from the pull of sleep.
"Have a nap, sweetie." She whispered back, "I'll bring them here to meet Timmy, and then we can all go home."
"S'okay, I'm not tired." And before Callie could say anything else, Arizona fell asleep. She chuckled a bit and leaned forward to kiss both hers and Sofia's heads, whispering "I love you" to both of her girls.
She stopped for one last look into the NICU, one last glimpse of her family before she had to leave, and watched as Alex tucked a blanket around Sofia and Arizona, his touch just as gentle and soft as Sofia's had been when she kissed Timmy.
888*
April stood outside the NICU and watched as Arizona slept beside her sons bed, her daughter asleep in her arms. She hadn't stopped praying for them since Arizona had told them that the patient they were working on was carrying her baby. Alex had told them all that the baby boy was going to be okay, that he would be fine and good to go home in a couple days.
And she had prayed for Katie Nelson, who was also going to be fine, but her recovery would take a lot longer. Her husband and children were with her in the ICU, and now they were just waiting for her to wake up. Which Amelia had said she hoped was soon. The damage to her brain was minimal, and her internal injuries were severe, but they had managed to save her. Meredith had been right, Katie was theirs now, and even though she wouldn't be in their lives for long, she would be theirs for as long as she needed them to be.
But it was Jackson's night with Harriet, and so instead of going home, she stayed and she prayed. Matthew was off tonight as well, so he and Ruby were at home. When she'd called him to tell him that she needed to stay, to be here for Arizona, he'd understood and they had prayed for her friends together on the phone.
And since Callie had to go pick up their parents, April would stand here, sentinel and watching. None of them had known that this baby was coming, or that he'd been almost full term. And she honestly couldn't blame them for not telling them. After Samuel, and the way that Arizona had told Jackson about Harriet, she understood. The fear that something might go wrong, that their private heartbreak would become public gossip, whispered in the halls accompanied by looks of pity, was not easy to handle. It took her a long time to realize why Arizona had done what she'd done, and though it came up often as teasing between them, she had forgiven her friend for that transgression long ago.
And she'd already forgiven them for this one.
There had been a steady stream of their friends and coworkers over the last hour she'd stood here, people coming for a quick look at the surprise baby of two of their doctors. No one lingered for more than a moment, soft smiles and affectionate glances before they were on their way again. If they lingered too long, Karev would shoot them his best glare from his own sentinel post inside the NICU.
But then his face would soften and he'd offer her a small smile, before going back to his work inside the NICU. No one could glare and frighten with a single look like Alex Karev could. Not even Chief Bailey anymore.
"Kepner," Maggie Pierce said from beside her, her voice low and quiet in the darkened hall.
"Hello Dr. Pierce," she whispered back, turning back to gaze at Arizona and Sofia and their baby boy.
"Does he have a name?" Maggie asked, and though April knew that he probably did have one, she hadn't gone in to find out. That was why she'd come here in the first place, to see if they had named him yet, but Callie had just been leaving to go to the airport, so she'd waited outside.
"I think so, but I'm not sure what it would be. They were asleep when I got here, and I didn't want to go and ask." And then, as if fate had ordained it, a nurse walked to the bed and placed the blue naming card on the NICU bed, it was too far away to read from here, but both her and Maggie watched her retreat from the bed.
"I'm gonna go look." Maggie whispered conspiratorially, and she slunk into the NICU. April almost laughed at the way that Alex, from the other side of the room and unable to stop her, just glared and shook his head 'no' at her. But with a shrug of her shoulders and without even stopping to read the card, she did a quick u-turn and was back at her side outside of the NICU and Alex was still glaring at Maggie.
"Timothy Carlos Robbins-Torres." She whispered, and all April could do was smile.
"Kepner, do we need to throw a baby shower?" April hadn't considered that. Probably.
But she found herself nodding along anyway. "We'll plan for sometime next week, Karev says the baby can go home in a couple days, I don't know what their plans are for mat leave though, oh shush, here comes Callie."
Just then Callie was walking down the hall with the three of their parents. When they got near, both she and Maggie offered Callie hugs, which were returned and then she and Maggie left quickly, allowing the family to be alone.
888*
Arizona and Sofia were still asleep when they returned, and Callie could tell that all three of the parents were reluctant to wake them. She was also reluctant to wake them, as she was exhausted herself, but the joy and happiness that had suffused her soul when Alex had walked down that hall with their son was carrying her through. And even though Daniel had driven them back to the hospital from the airport, and had a quiet conversation in the front seat with her dad, and Barbara had just held her hand while they sat in the backseat quietly, she resisted sleep.
She wanted to get back to her family. She wanted to get back to her wife and her daughter and her son. All she'd told them on the ride back was that they had a grandson, a nieto, that he was going to be okay. And though they'd asked, several times, she had refused to tell them the name that she and Arizona had chosen. She wanted to share that experience with Arizona.
But Arizona was still asleep, both her and Sofia snoring softly in the rocking chair, while Alex shuffled around. He was trying to look like he was working with the other babies in the NICU, but she could tell that his focus was completely on Arizona, Sofia, and Timmy. Arizona was right, he was a good choice for godfather.
Bringing their parents closer to the NICU bed, she quickly grabbed the name card someone had put there and shoved it into her pocket, she and Arizona would tell them together.
"Guys, this is your grandson," she whispered, watching as all three crouched over the bed and gazed at him.
"Honey, he looks just like Timothy." Barbara whispered to Daniel, the gruff older man nodded once, but Callie saw the way that he slipped his hand into his wife's, gripping her fingers tightly. While they whispered to each other, the three of them enjoying their grandson, she turned to wake Arizona.
Softly stroking her face, she watched as Arizona slowly roused from sleep. Her blue eyes blinking lazily, a small smile forming, the rest of her body didn't move, but her arms tightened around Sofia who was still snoring on.
"Hi," Callie whispered, moving in to press a small kiss to Arizona's temple.
"Hi." Her voice was still thick with sleep, but her eyes were focusing more.
"Our parents are here." She looked around Callie, to the three new grandparents fussing over their son, and her smile widened. Callie pulled the rolling stool closer to Arizona and sat beside her, slipping one hand around her wife's bicep, the other around Sofia, and leaned her head against the small shoulder. They just sat together and watched, radiant smiles making homes on three faces.
Eventually Barbara noticed that they were being watched, and her smile, if it was possible to do so, got even wider seeing that Arizona was awake. "Hi Sweets," she whispered.
"Hey momma bear," Arizona whispered back, fully awake now. "Hey daddy."
All three of them turned away from the baby and looked at the three of them. And it was Carlos who spoke. "Hello Arizona, please tell us the name of our grandson." Callie couldn't help but chuckle at the way Barbara lightly swatted his arm, the way Daniel just nodded beside Carlos, and the way that Arizona smiled at him.
"Hello Carlos, how are you?" Arizona teased back, offering her father a smile that he returned, his face softening just a bit.
"You didn't tell them?" Arizona asked her, turning to place a kiss on Callie's head.
"I was waiting for you," because their son was named after his uncle and both of their fathers, Callie wanted to share that with Arizona. They had told them Sofia's name over the phone, rather Arizona had before they'd come to visit after the car accident. This time, because he was named after them, and they were all safe and healthy and alive, and all three grandparents were here, they could do it together. Callie and Arizona.
"Go on then, Calliope." Arizona whispered, kissing her cheek this time.
So Callie disentangled her arms from her wife and daughter, and walked the few steps to her son. Slipping her hand into the NICU bed, she placed her finger in his hand, which he then squeezed (she knew, medically, that it was an instinctual response, but the part of her that was his mother, that this was her son, knew that he was squeezing because she was his mommy) she smiled.
"Guys, this is your grandson, Timothy Carlos Robbins-Torres. Timmy." And behind them, Arizona smiled widely, her arms wrapped around their daughter as both of their fathers widened their eyes, Daniel's jaw tightened with emotion, and Barbara took Callie into her arms quickly and tightly.
They didn't stay long after that, Daniel picked up Sofia from Arizona's arms, and their little girl barely even stirred as she slumped over Daniel's shoulder, still asleep. They needed to get her home and into her own bed, and because they only had one guest room now, Carlos said he'd go to a hotel because he couldn't stay long anyway, but he would meet them for breakfast and come back to see Timmy once again, Daniel and Barbara would stay at the house with Sofia.
Alex came over and hugged her, whispering a soft congratulations in her ear. She wanted to tell him about choosing him as godfather, but it could wait for another day. So she just watched as Arizona wound her arms around his neck, and asked "Did you eat?" He shook his head, so Callie pulled out her phone and ordered and paid for a pizza to be delivered to the hospital, because he whispered back "Go home Robbins, I've got your boy" so Callie hugged him again too.
After they both said goodnight to Timmy, they followed their parents with Daniel still carrying Sofia, down the hall. Arizona had her arm twined around Callie's, her other hand gripping Callie's forearm and her head resting on her shoulder as they walked.
"I love you Calliope Torres," She whispered, soft enough that Callie knew the words were meant only for her.
888*
"How come," Meredith's voice startled her, Arizona sucking in a deep breath and turning to look at her friend, "every time I come into a room that you two are in, one of you is staring at the other? Or you're making out? Why is that Robbins?"
Because her wife was miraculous. Breathtakingly stunning. And she was really good at kissing. Did Meredith really need an answer to that?
And really, how could she not stare at Calliope? Especially now, when she'd finally gotten their son back into her arms after he'd been passed around by their friends, everyone taking a moment to hold him and welcome him to their family. There she was, all black hair and beautiful, sitting cross legged on the couch, alone in her own world with Timmy, feeding him and holding him so reverently, ignoring the baby shower going on around her. She couldn't not stare.
"Hush Grey, that's the mother of my children you're talking about." She said, turning back to stare at Calliope some more.
"Do I need to yell at you too Robbins, about keeping this from us?" And just by her tone, Arizona turned back to look at Meredith, trying to judge what she was really asking. Finding nothing but the honesty of the question, she sighed.
"If you want to Meredith, you can." Because she wouldn't be the first. Alex had, and then quieted way down and softened when she put Timmy in his arms, and told him that he was now a godfather, that he could be mad at her and Callie, but he had to love Timmy. Though she'd seen on his face that he already did, heard it in his voice the first time he'd ever called her Arizona. April had also yelled, but it was kind of a whisper at the same time, and when Arizona had just looked at her, reminding her without words what happened the last time one of them had confided about a secret pregnancy and the fall out, April had just sighed and took Timmy.
"People need to prepare themselves for becoming a godparent, Arizona. You can't just spring a surprise baby on them and then ask them when they're holding the baby in their arms, giant blue eyes staring up at them. It's unfair." Arizona laughed at Meredith's words, but she too was staring at Callie and Timmy now.
"That's exactly what I did to Alex." She offered to Meredith, receiving a small in return. Arizona bumped her shoulder to Meredith's, turning back to stare some more at Callie and their son. "Go make your godson a onesie, Grey."
"Okay." Meredith patted her shoulder and left to join the rest of the quiet party.
She moved then too, going to join Callie on the couch with their son. Sofia was here too, but she was busy playing with Zola and Andrew on the floor. She couldn't tell what they were doing, but she was happy and smiling, so were Zola and Andrew, and that was good enough for her.
As soon as she sat beside her, Callie secured Timmy in one arm and wrapped the other around her shoulders, tugging her into an embrace. Arizona sunk willingly into it, tucking herself tightly to Callie's side when her wife turned to give her a soft kiss on the lips. She hummed in appreciation and snuggled in closer.
"When you hold that baby," Arizona whispered, looking down at Timmy who was now asleep, snuggled safely to Callie's chest, "You just keep making my dreams come true Calliope."
"You're a dream come true Arizona." Arizona smiled, the warmth rising through her at Callie's words. The only thing that could make this moment better was if Sofia were in her arms, but it would do nicely for the moment.
That was the new background picture on her phone. The four of them snuggled together sleeping on the couch. Her mother had texted it to her the day they brought Timmy home. Arizona was holding Timmy, cuddled into Callie's side, and Callie was holding Sofia. All four of their mouths were open in the unexpected family nap, and none of them had woken up when Barbara and Daniel had come home from grocery shopping, nor when they snapped the picture. In fact, none of them had woken up until Daniel came in and in the softest voice she'd ever heard from her father, whispered that it was time for dinner.
That moment, waking up with the three loves of her life, well only three of them had woken up at that moment, in her arms, that moment had been perfection.
"Do you think they've forgiven us, for keeping him a secret?" Arizona asked, lifting her hand to rest it on Timmy's stomach, just feeling the way it rose and fell with each tiny baby breath. There was something awe inspiring about the breaths of your own child. She'd done this to thousands of babies in her career, laid her hands on them as they slept, just feeling their tiny bodies be alive, but when she did it to her own children, well that was a feeling that nothing else compared to.
"They will, eventually." Callie replied, her gaze shifting around the room. People had been dropping in throughout the day, adding to the pile of gifts or the basket of cards, stopping to see their son and congratulate them. April had only called them yesterday to inform them of the baby shower, jokingly scolding them for keeping the baby a secret, saying if she'd had more notice she could have done better.
But the party was perfect. Their friends and coworkers, their family really, moving about the attendings lounge chatting with them and with each other, celebrating Callie and Arizona, and Sofia and Timmy.
"Hmm," was all she could respond with. They were already forgiven by the people that mattered.
"How's Katie doing?" Arizona asked. She had woken up and explained that she had been driving to school for a meeting with her study group when she'd gotten t-boned. She had been incredibly remorseful about endangering their baby, but both Callie and Arizona had reassured her that it hadn't been her fault, that she'd protected Timmy and the most important thing was that they were both alive. She'd cried when Callie brought Timmy to her, so she could see that he was indeed fine.
"She's doing well," Callie said, "Our insurance wants to move her to a rehab facility on the other side of the city next week. Meredith and Amelia have both said that she can be discharged, so they're just waiting for space to open up."
"That's good." Arizona replied.
Then they sat together in quiet for a little while, Arizona resting against her wife. Her eyes shifting between her sleeping son and her smiling and laughing daughter. She hadn't anticipated that this is what her life would be like. These people, these miraculously beautiful and broken people, who helped hold each other together and who helped fix each other. They had become her family over the last eleven years.
And then there was Callie. Her wife, Calliope Torres. Who had helped make Seattle home rather than just a step in career, had given her the family she would never have dreamed of, given her a daughter and a son, had given herself in so many different and little and big ways.
"You're the best thing that's ever happened to me, Calliope." She whispered, reaching up to turn Callie's face into hers, to give her another soft kiss, to try once again to show her with actions how much Callie meant to her. "You and Timmy and Sofia."
"I know," was Callie's response, a smile gracing her lips as she kissed back. "You were a hot mess when you met me."
"I was being serious," she said, teasing back.
"I know," her wife said again. "So was I."
"You're the worst."
"Yeah, but you love me anyway."
And she did.