AN: Sorry about the delay. I have no excuse.
"What if it's another boy?" Callie whispered to her mother-in-law, the quiet coming from the living room soothing, the soft snores of her four children, her wife, and her father-in-law filtering through the sunny Sunday afternoon.
Barbara and Daniel were here for dual purposes, the first was for The Colonel's 75 birthday party - which he had adamantly requested he spend with his grandchildren, and the second was for the twins second birthday party, which again The Colonel requested he spend with his grandchildren. The six of them were all sleeping together, Spence and Mateo curled together and wrapped protectively on Daniel's chest, wild and curly blonde hair, matching dimples on all three faces as they slept. Mirrored on the other lounge chair was Arizona, Sofia, and Timmy. Timmy was snuggled into Sofia's chest, his equally wild blonde curls spread across Arizona's chest and face, her arms wrapped around both of her children.
While Callie and Barbara could watch from their place in the kitchen, the same soft smiles perched on both faces, as Barbara snuggled a sleeping Baby Arizona - who was not so much a baby anymore.
"'The Robbins genes are strong.'" Barbara whispered back, and Callie felt her gaze shift from her family in the living room, back to her mom.
"Hmm?" She questioned. Because she knew the Robbins genes were strong. Her house was filled with pictures of blonde haired, blue eyed, fair skinned boys. Timmy's startlingly dark blue eyes were almost navy in colour, but he had his biological mother's dimples - and as he grew older, the pictures of his uncle and namesake, Callie was sure that Timmy Robbins-Torres would be the same All-American boy that Timothy Robbins had been. The twins, Spencer and Mateo, were equally All-American, though their eyes were lighter than their older brothers, but the dimples were all Robbins.
Meredith and Alex had taken to calling all four Robbins "McDimples 1," 2, 3, and, 4.
Arizona hated it. Callie and Sofia secretly joined in.
"Daniel has two older brothers. Timothy Robbins, Daniel's father, has seven brothers. Matthew Robbins, Daniel's grandfather has seven brothers. John Robbins, Daniel's great-grandfather, has eleven brothers. That's four generations of Robbins men who have had only brothers. All of them only had sons as well. Do you see where I'm going with this?" Barbara asked on a whisper.
Barbara had dark brown hair, it was greying now, gracefully, but Callie could still see hints of the not blonde hair. Her eyes too were blue, but they were different than the Robbins eyes. Arizona had her father's eyes, as did all of her sons.
"When I was pregnant with Arizona, it was something that Momma Robbins said to me when I was insistent that she was a girl. 'The Robbins genes are strong. There hasn't been a female Robbins in over a hundred years. You're having a boy.' I had so wanted a little girl." Callie nodded, their surrogate was now eight and a half months pregnant (and everything was going smoothly) and she was desperately hoping for a little girl. So much so, in fact, that she had almost broken on several occasions and asked what they were having. But she had stayed strong.
And she would be happy with another son, though 12 year old Sofia may not agree, Callie wanted a baby girl.
"When we told the family that we had a girl, everyone was shocked. She was still a Robbins, those eyes and that hair, but she was a girl! It was almost scandalous." She laughed, and Callie couldn't help but join in. "We had picked the name Arizona already, assuming we were having a boy - which is why her middle name is Daniel, and then came this bouncing baby girl. Daniel was so much gentler with her than I had ever seen him. Tim was already three when she came, and he was also shocked, his cousins were all boys. He didn't know what to do either."
"But all those Robbins men, in their uniforms, with dirt on their hands and their faces, when they came to see her… she softened them. Which ended up being a mistake, because she was as rough and tumble as any of the boys, the only difference is that she had pigtails and sometimes wore a dress."
They lapsed into silence then, the quiet snores and breathing from the living room reaching them again, the soft mumbles from Arizona in Barbara's lap filling the kitchen.
"We had names for all of them, girls names. But I've been scared to even say it out loud this time." Because what if saying it out loud would jinx it? Callie knew that that was ridiculous, the sex of the baby was determined when they had Arizona's eggs fertilized years ago, nothing could change that now. But to Callie, superstitions would superstitious.
"What were they?"
"For Timmy, it wasn't even a question of what his name would be if he were a boy. Tim was important to Arizona, and to you guys, and I wanted to honour that." Callie looked to the mantle in the living room. There were three Catherine Fox Awards there now, two for her and one for Arizona, still surrounded by the artwork from Carl Shatler, but now the mantle was bookended by matching tri-fold flags and framed photos for the men that they honoured.
Arizona hadn't wanted to put the flags up again initially. She had told Callie that it wasn't necessary for them to create a shrine to her family's history. But when Callie had grimaced at the negative connotation of the way her wife had said 'shrine' she had explained that it wasn't a shrine, it was honouring where Timmy had gotten his name from, her son, their son, and it was Callie's family too, so shouldn't she get a say? Arizona's shoulder's had softened, so Callie and Sofia had put the flags and pictures up, while Callie told their daughter the story of her great-grandfather and her uncle. Two men she would never get the chance to meet, but her little chest had puffed with pride, and she handled the memorabilia with a gentleness that she usually reserved for her brothers.
"Arizona had suggested Carlos as his middle name, and it just fit. If it had been a girl, we would have named her Olivia June. The twins were going to be Abigail Calliope," Callie grimaced when she said her own name again, but Barbara just offered a small chuckle, "and Zoey Barbara."
"Barbara? For me?"
"Of course, mom." Callie replied softly, grasping the hand that her mother-in-law offered. The four years since she and Arizona had married, Callie Barbara 'mom' had become first nature. Her own mother still hadn't spoken to her since their first wedding, and Callie had long since let go of that hurt. Barbara Robbins was her mom now, often she spoke more with Barbara than Arizona did. "Daniel and my dad have a grandchild named after them, you deserve the same."
"Darn those Robbins genes." They both laughed at that, lapsing into silence once again.
Arizona stirred in Barbara's arms, hiccuping into her shoulder before settling back into sleep once again. "I still can't believe your friends named him Arizona. When I spoke to Jo about it, she seemed hesitant, almost nervous."
"We all think that, Arizona most of all. Did she tell you that they have the same birthday?"
"No. I'm still not even allowed to mention her birthday."
"Well, come back this year, because now that there's two Arizona's who have the same birthday, she's not allowed to hide anymore. Alex and Jo make sure that Aunt Arizona's birthday is celebrated. She hates it, but she does it for him."
They lapsed into silence again, the other seven occupants of the house enjoying their afternoon nap. Callie knew that soon she'd had to wake them all, or the children would never sleep tonight. Especially the boys, and she'd end up with a bed full of children, but for now she could let them sleep.
"Have you thought of girls names?"
"Not a first name, but we decided to stick with Barbara for her middle name. We have a boys name though, Zachary Cooper." Though Callie felt bad about her tiny white lie. She had thought of a girls name. Liliana. It had been her grandmother's name. Her grandmother who had instilled in her a love of Cuban food, who had insisted she speak Spanish as a child, but indulged her with English - even though Liliana could hardly understand when her grandchildren spoke English. Liliana Barbara Robbins-Torres. Lily.
"She's due soon, right?" Barbara asked.
"Yeah, a couple weeks."
Arizona was home alone with the twins. Callie was at work tonight, with the Krackens, and usually she would have gone to the game with all the kids, but the boys were feeling slightly under the weather. Not enough to not be their recently earned terrible two selves, but enough that four hours at a cold hockey arena would not be a good idea. Sofia and Timmy went with Aunt Teddy instead, and her newly acquired husband James. But the game was on in the living room, all three of them hoping for a glance of mami as she stood behind the bench.
Callie, her beautiful and sun loving wife, had taken to hockey in a way that Arizona couldn't believe. As an orthopedic surgeon she had loved hockey season for the injuries that offered her surgical skills a chance to shine, but it had been a passive interested that peaked between the months of September and June. Now it was a full fledged passion. Especially since the Kracken had done the nearly impossible and won the Stanley Cup in their first season, and Callie had been presented with a ring along with the rest of the team. The thing was hideous, to Arizona, but Callie was exceptionally proud of it.
It was as equally hideous as the Seahawks Superbowl ring, that sat side by side in their office. Which one one wall held medical textbooks and overflowing piles of research, and on the other, the sports memorabilia. Every guy that came into their house somehow gravitated towards this room. With it's framed autographed jerseys, and footballs, and sticks, and baseballs, and bats. A signed puck, or twelve, and on display centre stage the two gaudy and hideous rings. As if they were pulled by some magnetic force and their Y-Chromosome to all things sports.
But Arizona was proud of her wife. Despite the fact that the wall made her frown, it also filled her with as much pride and inspiration as the loner piece of artwork had years ago. Callie was a popular doctor for all three major sports teams in the Seattle area, and this wall was just more proof of Callie's excellence.
The three of them sat quietly in the living room watching the game, Seattle was down 2-1 in the third period, when the doorbell rang. The twins were up off the couch quicker than lightning and Arizona had to shout to remind them to slow down.
Opening the door, Arizona was shocked to find six people on her doorstep. Carlos, who's grin matched the boys as they shouted "Lo" their inability to say "Abuelo" shortened to 'Lo' and Lucia Torres who was offering her a small smile. The other four people Arizona didn't know, one was obviously Aria, who looked shockingly like a perfect mix of Lucia and Callie, and a man she didn't know who had his arm wrapped around an obviously younger woman, while a nervous looking man stood behind them.
"Carlos?" She asked, noticing that his attention was on the boys who were jabbering away at him in Spanglish.
"Are these my grandchildren? I mean… are these Calliope's children? Your children?" The way that Lucia asked the question, Arizona could tell that her mother-in-law, whom she had only met once, seemed nervous. Arizona had wanted to say no, they were not her grandchildren, that to have the privilege to call them that she would have to be present in their lives, but Spencer was tugging on her skirt, his chubby face and arms lifted to the strange woman in request to be picked up. Lucia looked shyly at her, her face contorted with shame and regret, but a small questioning smile.
Despite the war raging within her, she nodded, and watched as Callie's absent mother bent to pick up her son, a tear falling which was quickly kissed away by an excited Spencer.
"Come in, please." She asked, stepping to the side, her unexpected visitors filing into her house and following her into the kitchen.
To say Arizona was feeling awkward would have been the understatement of the year. While Carlos had offered her a brief hug, they other five were practically strangers to her. Though Spence and Mateo were having the time of their lives with their Abuelo and five new people.
"Carlos, what's going on?" She asked finally, settling glasses of water in front of everyone. She didn't know why she was nervous, this was, technically, her family.
"Where is Calliope? Sofia and Timmy?" Carlos asked, his focus still on Mateo who was giggling as he tried to get a grip on his abuelo's glasses, his favourite past time.
"She's at work, Sof and Tim are with friends. The boys weren't feeling very well so we decided to stay home. Does Callie know you're here?"
Arizona watched as Carlos shook his head and looked at Aria, nodding that she should say something. Turning her focus to her sister-in-law, who she's never met, Arizona offered a small smile.
"Arizona… I know, I know we've never met, and that's my fault. I am sorry." Shocked, but hiding it quickly, Arizona could only nod, hoping that someone could explain further.
"This is my husband Hector, and my step-daughter Megan and her husband Aaron. We need your help."
"Is that why you're here, because you need help?" She was a bit enraged, but was able to contain her emotions. These people, save for Carlos, had ignored her, and her existence as well as Callie's and her children, for the last decade and now they had the audacity to come asking for help.
"Yes and no." From Megan.
Arizona immediately softened when she looked at who she now knew to be her niece. The way she cradled her protruding stomach, the fear written on her face, Arizona knew the look well. It was the way all pregnant woman looked at her when they came to see Dr. Robbins.
"Carlos?" She asked, turning to look at the man, who at least had the grace to look slightly ashamed.
"There is something wrong with Megan's baby. Everyone suggested a fetal surgeon and everyone suggested Arizona Robbins." Aria said, answering Arizona's questions. "Daddy said you'd help us."
Of course she'd help them.
"If this hadn't happened, would any of you have shown up here?"
The other six adults in the room looked at each other awkwardly, all of them casting fleeting glances at her as she waited for an answer. Luckily the boys hadn't noticed the tension in the room, and were focused on Carlos and Lucia.
It was Lucia and Aria who spoke first "I'm sorry."
It wasn't good enough for Arizona, but it was a start as Aria gestured towards Lucia to continue. "I am so sorry Arizona… I do not deserve your forgiveness, but when they said that Megan could lose the baby, it reminded me that I had already lost a daughter. Two daughters, you and Calliope. Carlos has pictures of you and your family in his office, and I'd see my, his, his grandchildren and I knew I made a mistake. And every day I continued to make it. To abandon your family and my daughter." When Lucia couldn't continue because she had begun to cry, Spencer stilled in her arms and like he did with every adult who'd ever held him, placed his hands clumsily on her cheeks and offered her a kiss, which just made his Abuela cry even more.
"I'm sorry too Arizona. I am ashamed of my actions. I would like to think that I would have found the strength and courage to apologize to you and Cal, and your kids, before something like this happened, but I didn't. I know that forgiveness will be hard, and maybe we don't deserve it, and I will accept that. But please, my grandchild needs you."
"Please Dr. Robbins." Arizona's anger deflated when Megan looked at her, tears filling her eyes and running down her cheeks as she and her husband looked at her.
"You can call me Arizona."
They were suddenly interrupted by the front door opening, Sofia and Timmy running into the kitchen followed by Callie who stopped suddenly in the doorway, almost stumbling. Sofia and Timmy had ran to Carlos' side, and as he passed a happy Mateo to Aria so he could bend to greet the older children, Arizona stood quickly and walked to Callie's side.
As she slipped her hand into her wifes, strong fingers gripped hers tightly, Arizona could see the struggle on her wifes face, the grief written in her eyes as she stood staring at the family that had abandoned her, her long lost sister and mother holding her children.
Reaching up with her free hand, she placed her palm on her wifes cheek and was pleased when Callie leaned into her touch, and using slight pressure to turn her face towards her own, resting their foreheads together. "Your niece," and Arizona paused when Callie sucked in a breath, "yes, your niece's baby is in trouble. They were referred to me."
"What's wrong?" Callie whispered, the voices of Sofia and her grandparents and family filling the kitchen.
"I don't know yet."
"You'll help?"
"If I can, yes." Of course that's all Callie would think of. Arizona could tell her wife was in panic mode, the family she had been abandoned were in her kitchen, interacting with her children, and asking them for help, but they needed her, well they needed Arizona, but to Arizona that was them. "Are you okay?"
"Yes. No. Maybe?" Callie whispered back.
"We can ask them to leave. They don't have to stay here."
"Hmm." Callie took another shuddering breath, and then steeled herself. Arizona allowed herself to be pulled along further into the kitchen, Timmy now happily in Carlos' lap, Spencer still in Lucia's and Mateo happily leaning from Aria's arms towards Hector who was making funny faces at him. Arizona could tell that Callie's smile, though small, was genuine as she took in the scene in front of her.
"Sofia, please take your brothers up for their bath and then get in the shower and ready for bed." Callie said to their daughter, ten pairs of eyes turning to focus on her.
A pout formed on their daughters lips as she said "But Abuelo is here."
"Maybe Abuelo will help with bath time, if you ask politely." Arizona answered.
"Will you Abuelo?" Sofia asked, joined by the three boys shouting 'Lo' and the other adults laughing. Carlos nodded at her query and she beamed her own dimpled smile at him, as she called to her brothers "Vamanos hermanitos!" and all three squirmed from their respective laps as they raced towards the children's bathroom, followed closely by Carlos.
An awkward silence filled the kitchen as Arizona and Callie took seats at the table. Her hand still gripped her wifes, but Arizona knew that she would have to be the strong one in this moment. "So, Megan, what's wrong exactly?"
But it was Hector who answered, pulling a folder from the messenger bag he carried. "Here's all of her scans and her OB's notes."
Arizona had left to go to the hospital with Megan and her husband, along with Aria and her husband, leaving Callie alone in her living room with her mother. Her mother she hadn't seen or spoken to in 12 years. Her mother who had abandoned her. Her mother who had flat out refused to even speak to her for 12 years. Her father had left after story time to go to the hospital to check on the family, and now she and her mother were sitting here, in her living room, in silence. Awkward silence.
Though Lucia never once looked at her, Callie knew that the older woman had cast glances around the room. After the twins first birthday, when she and Arizona had decided that it was time to make use of their last fertilized egg, they had broken ground on this house. It was farther from the hospital than either of them would have liked, but they made sure that they stayed in the same school district as Meredith so Sofia and Zola could continue their education. The two girls were consistently top two in their class, trading the top spot every so often.
Callie pulled her eyes from her mother and looked in the direction of the mantle where her mother was looking.
"Why now?" She asked, but her mother had spoken at the same time, "Who are those men?"
Their eyes finally connected on purpose, and Callie didn't want to analyse why her heart started racing or why her palms felt sweaty, or why she suddenly felt like a schoolgirl about to be scolded for being sent to the principal's office.
"They are both Timothy Robbins. The one on the left is Arizona's grandfather, and the one on the right is her brother." Her own son, Timothy Robbins-Torres, was going to look exactly like the men he was named after.
"Your son," Lucia started, a wave of comfort at her mothers choice of words filling her, washing away the past decade of hurt, "is he named after them?"
"Well her brother, mostly. But he was named after his grandfather, so in a way, yes."
"He's a beautiful boy Calliope. The twins as well, and Sofia. You have a beautiful family, mija."
Finally. This is what she had been waiting for for the last 14 years of her life, acknowledgement from her mother that this was her family. Perhaps not the way that she had imagined it would come about when they had daydreamed together as a child, her mother and her, and suddenly her question from earlier, the why now, didn't matter.
Well, it still mattered, and it always would matter, those fourteen years, but Lucia was here now, she wasn't running and she wasn't yelling at her about how she was a sinner. Callie wasn't ready to trust her mother yet, not in her own life and certainly not in her children's, but Lucia had made the first step and Callie could take one as well.
"We're pregnant again. Well our surrogate is."
The light that shone in her mother's eyes was almost blinding and Callie knew that she had made the right choice.
"I was a coward Calliope. I made a mistake, I've been making the same mistake for the last fourteen years, and I missed out on your family. I turned Aria against you, so you didn't get to know your sister's family, watch them fall in love, watch them get married… and I stole those things from her as well."
"Mom," Callie whispered, she heard the tears in her own voice.
"I know that I do not deserve your forgiveness, or Arizona's, maybe especially hers, but I hope that one, I can be Abuela to your children."
Callie wanted to say yes. To throw herself into her mother's arms and never let go. But she couldn't.
"I let you go mother. After all of it… I let you go because you weren't there for me. Or for Arizona. Or Sofia. Or Timmy. Or Spencer and Mateo. You weren't here for us. If it were just me, I'd be willing to try again, to let you try again. But I have a family now. Kids whose hearts will break if you abandon them. Just because you are my mother it doesn't give you any right to call them your grandchildren, that is a privilege that must be earned. And my wife, well… you saw what she was like."
Because honestly Callie had been shocked to walk into the kitchen to find her mother holding Mateo. She wasn't sure how that had happened, or why Arizona had allowed it. But Arizona had always been the more forgiving of the two of them, so though she was shocked she wasn't at all surprised that Arizona had allowed them in.
"The first doctor who told us to see Arizona, that was when I knew I had to face you. Not because I needed Arizona, not because we were told that she would be the only one who could save the baby, but it was the way everyone spoke of her." Callie could only stare as her mother talked, "She is regarded so highly in the medical community, Carlos has nothing but positive things to say about her, and it made me realize… I was wrong. I'm so sorry Calliope."
"You have to tell her that." Callie whispered, reaching behind her to grab tissues for both her and her mother.
"I did."
Just then the door behind them opened and Carlos and Arizona walked in, both looking tired and dishevelled. It was late, almost one in the morning, but Callie could tell that her wife was determined. She had her doctor face on, her thinking doctor face, and that gave Callie hope. It was a niece she didn't know she had, but Callie had been worried. Needlessly, she knew, her wife was the foremost fetal surgeon in the country, probably the world, and if anyone could save her niece, she knew it was Arizona.
"So?" Lucia asked, standing from the couch to meet the two newcomers.
Callie had followed quickly, giving Arizona a quick kiss, but also noticing how both of her parents smiled at them. Genuine smiles.
"I scheduled surgery for tomorrow afternoon. Megan and the baby will be okay until then, but I admitted them and Aaron is going to stay with her tonight. Alex is on call, and will page me if anything changes."
"Aria and Hector?" Lucia asked, looking at Carlos.
"They are at the hotel, and we will be back here for breakfast at 9?" Carlos directed his question to Arizona.
Her wifes blue eyes sought hers in question, asking if that was all right, and it would be so she just nodded. "Nine it is then."
After they had shared their goodbyes, and Lucia had hugged Arizona, Callie had led them to their bedroom after they both checked on their kids. For now, Spencer and Mateo still shared a room, but they had a room of equal size just across the hall, serving as storage now, for when they'd want their privacy, and Timmy and Sofia each had their own room further down the hall. When they'd built the house, they ensured that they had seven bedrooms; theirs, one for each of the kids, and a guest room, though they'd overshot in case this last pregnancy was twins again, they'd now have two guest rooms.
Once they were in their bed, entwined with one another, their silence comfortable and warm, Arizona's hand found its way underneath her shirt, fingers pressed tightly against her lower back.
"Are you okay Calliope?"
"She wants to be abuela."
"Technically she is an abuela. Not just to our kids, but to Megan."
"Ughh, why do you have to be so reasonable?"
Arizona just laughed and leaned up to press a kiss to her lips. Callie was sure that no matter what was wrong in the world, even if it was Arizona that was making her testy, a kiss from her wife would always have the power to make her feel better.
"You can say no, you don't have to let her back into your life."
Callie could only sigh. "I know. But…"
"There is no but Calliope, none. Our kids have never met her before, or Aria or any of them. She abandoned you."
"They abandoned all of us."
"Well, okay, that's technically true, but my heartache about that is only for you. You're the one that was hurt by that, you're the one that suffered. We all hurt for you, and I'll support your decision."
"If I asked you not to help Megan, would you?" Callie would never ask.
"Now you're just being stupid." And Callie laughed and squirmed as Arizona tickled her sides.
"Hey!" She tickled back, eliciting laughs and squeals from her wife.
"First of all, I would help her no matter what you asked of me. But more importantly, you wouldn't ask that. Not because she's your family, and not because you're vindictive and petty like that, but because you wouldn't ask me that. It's not who you are Calliope Torres. You are a helper at heart, it's your very essence and the basis for all the good that is in you. You have helped artists and professionals and old people, but you've also helped fix murderers and scum and homeless people. You give the smelly old man outside Starbucks five dollars every time you see him, which I might remind you is every day. That was a stupid question you just asked me. There is nothing but good in you, my wife, my beautiful and kind and caring and compassionate wife, and your heart is so big and you love so much and you care so fiercely and I love that about you."
Callie felt her heart swell during Arizona's speech. Had felt the way the impossibly blue eyes of her wife caressed her face, the way that pale hands stilled on her flesh, and the way that she fell a little more in love with her.
"Why did I do to deserve you?" She asked, bending her head to place a soft kiss against Arizona's lips.
"I ask myself that every day." Arizona said with a small smirk.
"You were still a hot mess when you met me."
"Well at least I'm still hot."