Arizona hugged her girlfriend and just by looking at her she could tell Amelia was incredibly sad. She was kind of relieved to see that, although it could've been a major trigger for Amelia goes back to drinking, she was sober.
"How are you?" – Arizona asked, she knew she wasn't fine, but she wanted to show herself available if Amelia wanted to talk.
"Fine. It was a long day, that's all" – Amelia said, she didn't have to tell Arizona she was sad, her girlfriend already knew it.
"Well, I think I may have some news that might cheer you up a little, we've tried to find you at the hospital, but a nurse told me you left a little earlier" – Arizona said, smiling.
"What? What is it?" – Amelia was curious and slightly anxious.
"Your patient, the baby, he giggled. I was consulting with Alex to check for trauma signs that could justify the absence of any sounds, and I just talked to him and he giggled. Twice" – Arizona couldn't hide how big her smile was now, she knew that was huge news to Amelia and she was glad to be the one telling her.
"Oh my God! He giggled! Are you sure? Like, did he actually make a sound?" – Amelia was excited, pacing around the living room.
"I'm positive, because he did it twice. And he also squeezed my finger with his tiny little hand. Strong grip. He's fine, Amy. You did a wonderful job with him" – Arizona said, holding Amelia's hand, who started to cry.
"I'm sorry, those are happy tears" – Amelia said, while she was crying in Arizona's chest.
"I know, baby. I know." – Arizona hugged her, patting her back.
After the emotional moment, they went upstairs and got ready to sleep. Arizona wrapped her arm around Amelia trying to give her comfort, even though her feature changed a little bit since Arizona told about the baby giggles. She was definitely relieved, but Arizona could see she was also far away from there.
And she really was. Amelia could only think about how delightful it would be to hear that giggle every day. As if he could be in there, in a crib next to Arizona's bed, that would also be hers. Their bed, their house, their baby, their new life. An emotional overflow took Amelia's body and Arizona was worried.
"Hey, what happened?" – Arizona asked.
"Nothing, I'm being emotional for no reason, don't mind me" – Amelia tried to explain, laughing and crying at the same time.
"Are you sure, Amy? Can I do anything to help?" – Arizona asked.
"I'm fine, baby. I promise you. But… uhm… Can I ask you something? And I don't want you to feel pressured or anything" – Amelia started.
"Yes, you can ask me anything" – Arizona said, smiling when Amelia turned around to face her.
"I know this whole adoption thing it's complicated. But, forget about this baby. Do you think that in the future, you can see yourself being a mom with me? Do you think I'm in your future?" – Amelia asked and Arizona stared at her kindly.
"I definitely see you in my future, Amy. Definitely. And I haven't thought about a baby yet, not until today. I don't discard it, but it's something that I would have to put a thought on" – Arizona explained, hoping Amelia would understand.
"Of course. I'm just asking because I keep picturing it, you know? Us, a child, a life together. I want so bad to grow old with you, to build a future together" – Amelia said, kissing Arizona on the lips.
"I think we're on the same page, then. I want all of that, too" – Arizona said and they said goodnight.
Arizona couldn't sleep. Last week she was avoiding talking to Amelia because it hurt to see her with some other woman, and now they were talking about a future. She didn't know if that was heavily crazy or if they just allowed their love to grow inside of them, even when they were apart. Although it was fast, and it was scaring, it was also so right and so good to at least consider this to become something solid. She felt right being with Amelia. Does it really make a difference if they're going to start their future now or if they will wait another week?
In the morning, Amelia woke up to an empty bed. She frowned when noticed that Arizona wasn't there, but she could hear her voice from a distance. She put on some clothes in case DeLuca was at the house and headed downstairs to see Arizona talking on the phone, with a huge grin on her face.
"Good morning" – Amelia said, with her usual morning mood.
"That's wonderful, Heather, thank you very much." – Arizona was finishing her call and then looked at Amelia – "Good morning, my love. We need to talk"
"Why? What did I do?" – Amelia was confused, eating half of Arizona's toast.
"Are you eating my toast?" – Arizona asked, intrigued.
"Sorry, I'm hungry" – Amelia said with her mouth full, like a child.
"I did something. Actually, you did something. To me" – Arizona started, smiling.
"Why are you smiling like this? And what did I do to you? I was sleeping" – Amelia said, confused.
"Baby, you made me fight this annoying voice in my head that tells me that everything's going to get ruined like it was with Callie. Last night, when you asked me if I see a future with you in it, I said yes" – Arizona said.
"But you don't?" – Amelia asked, confused and now worried.
"I do, I still do. But I'm not sure if I can wait that much longer for this future. I love you, Amy. I've loved you for so long, I've loved you even when we were apart. I feel like I found you for a reason, you're part of my life, of my present and future, and how much longer do I have to wait to allow myself to start it with you? So I called the hospital social worker." – Arizona said, with loving eyes.
"You did what?" – Amelia was perplexed, she couldn't believe her ears.
"I called her and told her we want to adopt him. I want to, I know you want it, too. This will be our start, our future is going to start now. I mean, if you want. We still have a long road ahead of us" – Arizona said and started to get nervous waiting for Amelia's response.
"Are you being serious? Am I actually hearing this right?" – Amelia was still perplexed.
"I am deadly serious, Amy" – Arizona said, squeezing Amelia's hand.
"But what about me? They won't let me adopt him, I'm sure." - Amelia asked worried, although her eyes were shining with joy.
"You're in recovery, Amy. We'll make this happen. Maybe we'll need to think about a plan, maybe different timing on the adoption process for each of us, but it will happen and we're going to be his moms. Let's focus on that, ok?" - Arizona tried to calm down her girlfriend.
"I love you, so damn much" – Amelia said and kissed her girlfriend, and they both had tears of happiness falling from their eyes.
"I love you, too. But you're going to make me a new toast" – Arizona joked and they both laughed.
They headed to the hospital to have a meeting with the social worker and set the arrangements to start the adoption process.
"Ok, doctors. Does he have a name already?" – The social worker asked.
"Not yet, do we need to name him now?" – Arizona asked.
"No, that's not necessary. For what I can see, you won't have much trouble with this. Arizona, you're already a mom and even won sole custody regarding your daughter, which only proves to the State you're a responsible and caring mother. And Amelia, you seem to have a solid experience with children, you have a lot of nieces and nephews" – The social worker commented.
"Yes, I do. A lot of them" – Amelia smiled.
"Well, I'm forwarding this to the judge and I believe I'll hear from him by the end of the week. You both have stable jobs, a good financial status. I need to advise you, though, that if his answer is no, you still can appeal, but you cannot run or take this baby away without my consent, is that clear? Anything you do can jeopardize the process" – the social worker said and both women nodded yes. Amelia was clearly nervous about the process getting denied because of her addiction problem. She needed to ask about it.
"Heather, I need to ask you, though, will it be a problem for me to adopt because I'm in recovery? I'm an addict. I mean, does this decrease the chances for the adoption process? Arizona has a clean state, maybe she'll need to do this alone?" - Amelia shot a lot of questions and Arizona looked at her worried, and kindly squeezed her hand.
"Amelia, for what I can see, you were clean for a very long time and you were in an accident, is that correct?" - the social worker asked and they both nodded yes, so she continued - "I won't sugarcoat this for you, being an addict is a major concern to the judge, of course. But even when we have children living in broken homes, with addict parents, the State always try to help the entire family before taking away the kid from his home. We know that it's dangerous, being an addict parent, but it's also a brave thing to do, staying clean in order to be a parent. And Arizona being in the picture will help, of course. There will be two of you, so less pressure on you, less danger to the kid. You've paid for his whole treatment. The judge will see that as a strong vote of confidence from you to this baby. And from what I can see, you're going to be a great mom. Don't make me regret about saying that!" - the social worker explained, and they both sighed, relieved.
After the meeting with Heather, they were in the NICU visiting him, and Amelia had a completely different look now. She was already seeing herself as his mom, and the baby's reaction whenever she was around was a gracious scene to watch.
"Have you thought about? A name?" – Arizona asked, squeezing Amelia's hand.
"No. I mean, I did, I had a thousand names popping in my head, but none of them seemed to fit his face. But last night I had a dream about my father. I would like to give his name to him. As a middle name. I would love to do that if you agree" – Amelia said.
"What is it? I never asked what was your father's name, I'm sorry" – Arizona said, seeing her girlfriend become a little bit emotional.
"Carter. Carter Shepherd" – Amelia said, smiling at the baby.
"It's a beautiful name. How do you feel about Adam?" – Arizona asked.
"Adam Carter. I love it" – Amelia smiled and kissed Arizona. – "I really loved it"
"Adam Carter Robbins-Shepherd. That's our son's name" – Arizona said.
After a few requests, I realized that it would be only fair to the characters to give them a nice happy ending, so I will publish another chapter, an epilogue, as the final one to this story. It was a great pleasure to me write about them since they are my favorite characters in the show. I intend to write more Amezona fics, for sure! The next one will be a Merzona (already in the making), but in the future, you can expect more of Amelia stuff. I always write about Arizona, since I fell in love with her storyline in Grey's Anatomy from the beginning, but I feel like she deserves a more highlighted appearance, so it's a chance for us, young authors, to make this happen through the fanfics (with our favorite characters, of course). I would love to hear more ideas of pairings and maybe write new stories about it. Thank you all for the amazing support and especially for the comprehension of my English not being native. Off to the epilogue to give Amelia and Arizona the nice happily ever after they deserve! :)