A/N: Hope you all like what's in this chapter!

Chapter 24

"Patty cake, patty cake, baker's man," Arizona sang, holding Amelia's hands within her own to help her clap. "Bake me a cake as fast as you can," she smiled, getting smile in return from the babe.

"You like that one don't you?" she asked after she'd sung it for about the 15th time. "How about we turn on some real music now and just dance? I'm out of songs."

Flipping on the stereo, she settled the baby on her hip and started to move to the music. She was home alone with Amelia and enjoying every minute of the one-on-one time they had going on. It wasn't often that she got her favorite little girl all to herself. Callie was out finishing her Christmas shopping, and she wasn't allowed to go with her, because then Callie couldn't get Arizona's gift. She wasn't sure where her parents were.

After dancing around the living room for the better part of a half hour, Arizona could see Amelia's little eyes start to get tired. "We ready for some lunch then kiddo? Yeah I think so too," she said, as if the little one had answered her.

"Yay! Pears," Arizona exclaimed, as she began to feed Amelia. She understood Callie's reasons for trying all of the veggies before fruits. But Arizona wasn't fond of the smell, she much preferred the fruits.

"Want another bite?" the blonde asked, holding the spoon in front of Amelia. Instead of taking it, Amelia blew a raspberry, causing the pears on the spoon to go flying everywhere. Seeing a drop hit Arizona in the face, Amelia started laughing. "Oh you think that's funny, do you? Alright fine, no more food."

Wiping Amelia's face and hands, she took the washcloth and almost empty container of baby food to the sink. She fixed up a fresh bottle before lifting the sleepy baby out of the highchair. Sitting in the rocking chair with Amelia tucked in her arms was definitely one of her favorite feelings in the world. Long after the bottle was discarded, and the little girl was asleep, Arizona sat there rocking with her, touching her softly. "Love you, baby girl," she told the sleeping infant as she finally laid her down in her crib and left the room.

Heading to her own room, she picked up her cell phone, and checked to see if she'd missed anything in the last few hours. She had one text from Callie asking how they were doing and reminding her about dinner later, and a missed call from Tim. She sent off a quick text to her girlfriend, before calling Tim back.

"Hey bro. What's up?" she greeted when he finally answered several rings later.

"Nothing much, just enjoying my day off," he responded. "You?"

"Just laid Amelia down for a nap, now I'm all by myself with nothing to do."

"Where's Callie?" he inquired.

"She's out shopping. Said I had to stay home so she could find my Christmas present," Arizona sighed, missing her girlfriend. Since the two Torres' had moved in a couple weeks ago, the two girls were pretty much attached at the hip.

"You'll live," Tim teased his sister.

"Is that why you called, to torment me?"

"No, actually I wanted to talk to you about your winter break," he answered.

~CA~

"Callie, are you ready yet? We're going to be late," Arizona called up the stairs later that evening.

"We're not going to be late," Callie yelled back.

"Mommy?" Amelia questioned from her place on Arizona's hip, staring up the stairs in the direction she'd heard her mother's voice.

"Yeah, Mommy is making us late," Arizona told Amelia. "We have to be there in 20 minutes, and it's going to take us at least that long to get there."

"We're not going to be late," Callie reiterated, finally coming down the stairs making Arizona speechless. Both girls were dressed up, but not to the extent they had been the night they went on their big date for Arizona's birthday.

"Your dad is treating us to dinner. The least we can do is be on time," Arizona explained.

"We are not," Callie started again, placing a kiss on Arizona's lips, "going to be late." She placed another kiss on Arizona's lips, before taking Amelia from the younger girl. "Come on, let's go."

"You really don't play fair," Arizona muttered as they made their way out to the SUV.

Pulling up to the restaurant with a minute to spare, Arizona jumped out to grab Amelia, while Callie handed over the keys to the valet. As they headed inside, Arizona became engrossed in smoothing out Amelia's dress, as well as fixing her own as much as she could with a baby on her hip.

"You look fine," Callie whispered, placing a kiss in the blonde's hair. "She does too."

"Ah, Miss Callie, it's been a while since I've seen you," the maître d' greeted as they walked towards the podium. "Your father called to say he was running a few minutes late. Do you wish to be seated? We have your usual table all ready for you."

"That would be great. Thank you." As the gentleman heads into the restaurant, Callie motions for Arizona to follow, taking the rear for herself. "Can we get a highchair?" she asks taking in her surroundings of the private room. She'd eaten here often enough growing up, but today she was taking it all in with the eyes of a mother. Amelia was getting to the stage where she wanted to be more on the go. If she sat in their laps, she'd be trying to get to the floor. In a highchair, she'd be more likely to be content stationary.

"Of course, I'll have someone bring it right out to you," he promised, making his way back out.

"I told you we wouldn't be late," Callie said, turning to Arizona once Amelia was settled in her own seat. "It's not that he tries to be late, but something always comes up."

"Ah. Well you could have told me that," Arizona grumbled, trying to act mad. She was happy that at least they weren't making Callie's father wait on them.

"Eh, but where's the fun in that?" Callie teased, placing a kiss on her girlfriend's cheek. Arizona turned her head, to go in for a real kiss, but was interrupted.

"Sorry I'm late, girls," Carlos apologized. "Had to deal with an issue at the office. Have you been here long?"

"Just a few minutes is all," Callie answered for them.

"And I see you brought my granddaughter with you," he said with a smile, moving over to the baby to play with her for a moment. He made the invitation for both girls, but wasn't sure if they'd bring Amelia or not. He knew Arizona's mother was the one that watched her during the day, so he wasn't sure if they'd leave the baby with her.

"We try not to leave her as much as possible," Callie answered the unasked question.

Carlos turned to Arizona, "and you're okay with that?" Even though he knew this girl made his daughter extremely happy, he had to be sure she was right for both Callie and Amelia.

"Why wouldn't I be?" the blonde shot back without thought. "I love spending time with her just as much as Callie does." It was the answer he must have been looking for because he dropped the subject straight away.

"So what have you girls been up to?" Carlos asked, effectively changing the subject. From there the conversation flowed easily between them. He listened with interest as they filled him in on their lives, soaking up all of the things he'd missed with his daughter and granddaughter.

He'd spent the last few weeks trying to get his wife to apologize and accept the person, the woman, their daughter was becoming, but so far he'd had no success. He couldn't understand why Lucia was so adamant. How she could cut their daughter out of her life so easily.

"Ba ba ba," Amelia babbled, wanting to join the conversation.

"Do you want your bottle?" Callie asked her daughter. Noticing the time, she realized that is probably exactly what Amelia is asking for. Their food had come and went, but they'd all been so busy chatting, nobody had realized how late it had gotten. "She says 'mommy' now, but refuses to say anything other than 'ba,' which is either her just talking, or her asking for her bottle," she informs her father.

Arizona had already begun getting the bottle out of the diaper bag as soon as Callie asked the question to her daughter. Pulling the little girl into her lap, Callie took the bottle from Arizona.

"Do you mind if I hold her while she eats?" Carlos asked hesitantly.

"Um, sure," the young mother responded. Moving around the table, she gently sat her daughter down on her father's lap. "She mostly holds the bottle on her own now, but as tired as she is, you'll probably have to help her."

"I've got this Calliope, quit your worrying," he off-handedly replies.

Amelia, for her part, doesn't seem to mind whose holding her, so long as that person has the food she wants. Little eyes stared up at her grandfather as she slowly drank from her bottle. There is something so serene and calming about having a baby in your arms as they fall asleep, trusting you completely. It was a memory Carlos would store with regret, not having had the same with his own child.

"We should probably get her home," Callie suggested when she noticed Amelia sound asleep.

"Of course," her father agreed, slowly handing the baby back to her mother. "Give me your valet ticket. I'll get them to pull it up so you don't have to wait with her in the cold," Carlos offered as the girls prepared to leave.

"Thank you, Dad," Callie smiled as she handed over the ticket.

"No problem sweetie, see you outside."

A few minutes later, the two girls headed out the front doors and into the waiting vehicle, buckling in the sleeping baby as carefully as possible so as not to wake her.

"Thanks for dinner," Callie told her father, surprising him by giving him a giant hug. It was a habit she'd picked up from the Robbins, and now it seemed like second nature to her.

"You're welcome. We'll have to do it again sometime."

"Definitely," Callie agreed.

"Goodnight girls."

"Night, Mr. Torres," Arizona called as she climbed into the passenger seat.

As soon as the car was heading down the street towards home, Callie took one of Arizona's hands within her own, placing a light kiss on her knuckles. "Tonight was good."

"It really was," Arizona admitted. "I'm glad your dad is getting more involved. I know how much that means to you."

"Yeah, he's not the same guy he was just a year ago. It's nice." They rode the rest of the way in silence, enjoying the night.

As soon as they made it into the house, the two girls headed straight upstairs. They each placed a kiss on the baby before putting her in her crib for the night. Slipping quietly out of the room, they moved towards their own, in silent agreement that, they too, were ready for bed.

Having partially lived together for some time now, and really living together for the last few weeks, they had both become more comfortable with each other, but still weren't ready to take that last step. They were getting closer. Now it was just a matter of things falling into place. Caring for an infant made it a little harder to decide when they might be ready. That didn't mean they didn't have some over-the-clothes kind of fun before finally falling asleep each night.

~CA~

Rolling over in bed, Arizona attempted to cuddle closer to her girlfriend, only to find her missing from bed. Opening her eyes, she searched the darkness, but there was no movement. Landing on the baby monitor, she noticed it'd been flipped off. No matter how sound asleep she was, Amelia's cries would always wake up Callie. They would almost always wake Arizona as well, but the few times they didn't, Callie would turn off the monitor before checking on Amelia so that Arizona could continue to sleep.

Amelia slept through the night most nights. It was rare that she didn't, and the times she did wake up, it didn't take much to get her back to sleep. So when Callie hadn't returned ten minutes after Arizona woke up, she figured she'd better go investigate and make sure everything was alright.

As soon as she was out in the hallway she heard what she couldn't before. Amelia was not a happy baby at all. Callie's back was to the door when she entered, slowly rocking Amelia back and forth, but still, Amelia was crying.

"Mama, mama, mama!" the little one cried.

"Shh, mija, mommy's here," Callie whispered, but it wasn't working. Her daughter had been crying for how long she didn't know. She couldn't figure out for the life of her what was wrong. She'd tried every trick she could think of to get her to settle down, but nothing was appeasing her baby. She just continued to cry, looking around the room.

"Mama!" Amelia cried again, wiggling in her mom's arms.

"Hey, what's all the noise?" Arizona asked softly, with a smile, walking further into the room. Hearing the other girl's voice, Callie turned with Amelia in her arms so that they could both see the blonde girl walk towards them.

"Mama!" Amelia cried again, reaching a hand out towards Arizona.

Arizona reached out, lifting Amelia as she fell into her arms. The little girl curled into her chest, and took a deep calming breath. Her crying quickly ceased, only to be replaced by hiccups from screaming so long. Arizona ran a soothing hand down the baby's back. "What's a matter? You being a trouble-maker for Mommy?"

"Mama," Amelia whispered this time, curling deeper into Arizona's chest, relaxing finally. Warmth spread through Arizona's body as Amelia's meaning took hold.

Realization dawned on Callie's face in that moment. She hadn't given it much thought before, focused on getting Amelia to calm down. Now she could see it though. Her daughter hadn't been crying for her, she'd been crying for Arizona.

Arizona recognized the look on her girlfriend's face before she disappeared from the room. It was the same look she had the night of Arizona's birthday, and several times since. Only this time it was much more pronounced. She rocked Amelia for a good five minutes after she fell asleep, to ensure she'd stay asleep once she put her back in her crib, before following Callie.

She found her girlfriend sitting on the edge of their bed, elbows propped up on her knees, head tucked into her hands, deep in thought. "What's going on in that head of yours?" she asked softly, kneeling down so that they were face-to-face. When she still didn't get a response, she tried again. "I know something's been bugging you, so let's talk about it."

"I let my daughter cry for a half hour tonight because I didn't realize what she wanted. She was crying for you. She wanted you. You're 'mama.' I didn't even realize she wasn't crying for me," she paused gathering her thoughts. While she was a little upset that her daughter didn't want her, she also knew that she wasn't rejecting her, Amelia just needed something she thought Arizona could give her this time.

"I realized awhile ago that she was starting to look to you as a parent. It was just weird hearing her call you one. How she even knew to do that," Callie thought out loud. "And I can't help but think how unfair all of this is to you."

"Unfair?" Arizona asked, not understanding.

"You're 18 years old. You haven't had a chance to live yet. I'm not sure it's fair to push all of these responsibilities onto you," Callie honestly replied.

"You're 18 too," Arizona pointed out.

"Yes, but I got pregnant. You didn't."

"Oh, so I have a choice and you don't?" Exasperated now, Arizona stood up and moved away.

"Basically, yeah," Callie answered, as if it was obvious.

Arizona paced back and forth across the room for several minutes, trying to think of what to say and how to phrase it so that Callie would understand. There was no choice for her.

Finally, she sat down next to her girlfriend, took her hands within her own, and forced the other girl to look at her. "There is no choice for me either. I may not have given birth to her, or was even there for her conception, but I still feel very much like she's mine. No matter what happens with us, I will always love her as if she is my own. If it is a choice, well then I choose to be her mother, so long as that's okay with you."

"I know how much you love her, and she loves you. I just don't want you one day resenting me for forcing this on you," Callie admitted her fears.

"That will never happen," Arizona promised, placing a kiss on Callie's lips. "I was in love with you long before we ever kissed for the first time. I knew what being with you meant. Still I chose you, because I love you, and I love Amelia."

"I love you, too, Mama," Callie teased, finally feeling better now that they've talked. She believes every word Arizona spoke, because the truth was there in her eyes the entire time. "Maybe we should get some sleep now, before our daughter wakes up again," she suggested, having no hesitation about sharing claim to her daughter.

"Agreed." Arizona couldn't help the smile that took over her face then. She was a mother now, and someday maybe they could make that legal. She couldn't wait.

The End

No just kidding! There's much more to come I promise. But this would have made a good ending I think.