A/N: Not sure I'm liking the changes to FF, but here's the new chapter anyway! LOL

Chapter 35

With a grin on, Callie watched from the couch, as Arizona played peek-a-boo with their daughter on the floor. It had become Amelia's new favorite game a few days prior and Arizona never seemed to tire of playing it with her. Amelia's eyes lit up every time Arizona sat down on the floor with her.

She knew Arizona spent far more time than she did down on the floor with the baby. It wasn't that she didn't love playing with her daughter, because she did. Arizona was simply the more playful of the two, while Callie was more of the responsible one, and focused on making sure everything was taken care of. Besides, it never ceased to amaze her how happy it made her watching those two play together. Their love for each other very apparent.

She couldn't help but wonder again what her life might have been like had she never gotten pregnant. Would she still have befriended the new girl in school? She'd like to think she would have, because there was just something about Arizona that called to her, but she couldn't say for sure. It was more than likely that she wouldn't have.

Thinking back, she realized how shallow and self-absorbed Izzie and all their other friends were. Although back then she had been one of them. At the time she never gave much thought to anyone outside of their tight-knit group. It wasn't intentional though, it just never occurred to her. They'd all known each other since they were in diapers. Their parents were all friends and a part of the same social class. Plus she was always focused on her studies so making new friends never really crossed her mind.

Had things turned out differently, she'd probably be propped on Izzie's bed right now, reading a text book and pretending to listen to the blonde ramble on about her latest conquest. She'd nod her head and make small noises of agreement as the other girl tried on one outfit after another in hopes of drawing attention from a new boy-toy.

She was grateful that wasn't the case. As she watched her baby attempt to cover her own eyes to hide from her mama, she couldn't help but fall even more in love with both of them. She loved her life exactly the way it is. She wouldn't trade her two girls for anything in the world.

Seeing the contemplative look on her girlfriends face, Arizona couldn't help but wonder what was going through Callie's mind. "Whacha thinking about over there?" she asked.

Callie held her arms open, encouraging Arizona to get up and join her on the couch. As soon as Arizona was snuggled in close, Callie wrapped her arms around her and placed a kiss in blonde hair before resting her head on top of Arizona's. "Just thinking about how much I love you both, and how grateful I am to have you two in my life," she admitted honestly.

"The feeling is definitely mutual," Arizona responded lovingly. "I wouldn't want to be anywhere else." She snuggled deeper into Callie's body and let out a sigh of contentment. Every part of her body that connected with Callie's felt warm and tingly. The feeling of being in Callie's arms was one of complete pleasure. It didn't matter the position, they always fit together perfectly.

Comfortable for the moment, Arizona rested her head on Callie's chest while she watched their little girl crawl towards her playhouse. "Have you heard from your dad?" she asked quietly, not wanting to interrupt the peaceful moment. She didn't know why she was asking anyway. Callie would have told her if she had. She was just so eager to get started with the adoption process. It had only been a few days since Amelia was released from the hospital, but felt like so much longer.

She didn't need to explain herself. Callie knew why Arizona was asking. She couldn't help but be a little impatient herself. She felt no hesitance about allowing Arizona to legally adopt Amelia. She was already her mother in every other way but. It would be nice not to worry about possibly reliving the hospital incident ever again. "He said to give him a week or so. He wanted to make sure they didn't miss a single bit of information or loophole," she reminded Arizona.

"I know. I just hate all this waiting," Arizona said sadly.

"I know you do, sweetheart," Callie told her, wrapping her arms even tighter. "We'll make it happen, I promise."

"Mama!" Amelia called from inside her playhouse. She had pulled herself up to stand in the window facing her mothers.

"What, baby girl?" Arizona responded back with a smile. She briefly wondered if the day would ever come when she wouldn't feel a flutter in her heart when Amelia called her mama. She doubted it.

The two girls watched from the couch as Amelia stuck her hand out the window toward them, them proceeded to open and close her fist. "I think she wants you to go over there," Callie told Arizona. Amelia had never done that hand gesture before, but she was confident it was a 'come here' signal. It was amazing the little things she picked up.

"I think so too," Arizona agreed, pulling herself out of her girlfriend's arms. She gave Callie a quick peck on the lips before standing up and making her way over to her daughter. "What's up, munchkin?" she asked Amelia, as she squatted outside the window so they were face-to-face.

"Baby!" Amelia squealed happily, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet, using the windowsill for support. Arizona shot a glance Callie's way to see if she had any clue as to what Amelia was trying to tell her. Callie just shook her head. "Baby!" Amelia yelled again, this time turning to look at something on the floor next to her.

Clearly whatever Amelia was so excited about was inside her house. Not being able to see around the excited girl, Arizona pulled open the door and crawled in next to Amelia. "Ah, I see now. You put your baby to bed, didn't you?" she asked, seeing what Amelia had done. "Mommy, you should come see this," she called to Callie.

Scooting over to make room for the other girl, Arizona was glad the structure was big enough for all three of them with a little room to spare. The weather was getting warmer finally, but still not warm enough to take it outside. She was both excited and dreading that day, because it was Amelia's favorite place to play, but really needed to leave the family room.

"Aren't you such a good mommy," Callie told Amelia, smiling at the genius that was her baby girl. Amelia had taken her doll and put her inside an empty toy bin. Then she tried to lay the blanket over top of her. "Is your baby sleeping?" she asked.

"Shh," Amelia told them, forcing them both to hold in a laugh at how loud she was.

"Alright we'll be quiet," Arizona whispered. "Maybe we should leave baby here to sleep while we get some lunch. How does that sound?"

"Num, nums," Amelia squealed, clapping her hands. The whole concept of being quiet lost on her.

"What time is it anyway?" Callie asked. They'd been so content spending time together she hadn't bothered to notice the time.

Looking out the small window to see the clock, "Almost one," Arizona answered.

"That late already? She's going to be cranky the rest of the day if we don't get her fed and down for a nap soon," Callie said, as she worked her way back through the small door.

"Very true," Arizona agreed. "Come on, big girl. Let's get some food in that belly," she told Amelia, encouraging her to follow her moms out of the house.

While Callie went into the kitchen to start getting Amelia's lunch ready, Arizona stayed with the little one. Standing Amelia up on her two feet, Arizona held her tiny hands, supporting her, as she slowly made her way through the house. Arizona was going to be sad when the day came that Amelia no longer needed their help to walk, she enjoyed these moments. Every day she was getting closer to taking off on her own.

Once Amelia was settled in her highchair, Arizona took the food Callie had prepared and began feeding Amelia. Callie went to work on fixing something for them to eat once Amelia was down for a nap.

"I am so not ready to go back to school tomorrow," Arizona said offhandedly. Amelia's eyes were already starting to droop as she ate. She just let her take her bites at her own pace, knowing this was the best way to get her settled enough for a nap.

"We've been gone over a week," Callie laughed. How much time away did Arizona want them to have?

"Yesterday and today don't count," Arizona argued. It was true though. They had only really missed last week while sitting in the hospital. There was no school today or the day before thanks to some teacher thing. Neither really bothered to know why, just glad they got to spend a little more time with Amelia before having to leave her in her grandmother's care again.

"Fair enough. At least we haven't missed too much, thanks to your mom and Miss Montgomery," Callie said.

"Yeah. Still, it's been nice getting to be together as a family," Arizona spoke softly. She was so grateful to go to the school she did and have Miss Montgomery as a vice-principal, soon to be principal at the start of next school year. Not a lot of other schools would have been as understanding about Arizona taking the time off.

That was another reason she really wanted to have the adoption well underway before they started college. Which reminded her of another conversation they still needed to have. "I'm going to go put the munchkin down. Then I want to talk to you while we eat," Arizona told Callie as she lifted an almost fully asleep Amelia into her arms.

"Don't we always talk?" Callie teased. She knew Arizona meant a specific conversation and not just the idle chatter, but she could still tease her about it.

"You know what I mean," Arizona muttered back, not taking the bait. "Now give our baby a kiss," she ordered, prompting Callie to bend over and place a kiss on Amelia's cheek, wishing her sweet dreams.

Several minutes later, Arizona skipped down the stairs and towards the kitchen. Opening the fridge, she grabbed drinks for both of them while Callie carried their bowls over to the table, completely in sync with one another. "Ooh, my favorite," Arizona squealed, making Callie believe Amelia got her excitement from her mama.

"A waste of my culinary talents, but I'm glad I can make you happy," Callie drawled jokingly. Sometimes she couldn't help but think she was dating a five year old. But if mac and cheese with cut up hotdogs made Arizona happy, she'd make it every day to see that smile. "So what did you want to talk about?" Callie opened the conversation as Arizona stuffed a giant spoonful in her mouth.

"College," Arizona mumbled around the food in her mouth.

"One, swallow your food before you talk," Callie told her getting a sarcastic 'yes, mom,' from Arizona. "And two, what about college? You're going to have to be more specific than that."

Gulping down the last bit of food in her mouth, Arizona turned a serious look at her girlfriend. "We've gotten a lot of acceptance letters back, but we haven't really figured out what we're going to do. Figured we probably need to start making plans soon."

Callie knew she was right. It was hard enough making plans when you were single with no responsibilities. They had Amelia to think about as well, making it even harder. Luckily they had pretty much both gotten into all the same schools so far, making the decision a little easier. They wouldn't even consider the possibility of splitting up now. "Yes, we probably should," Callie agreed.

"The way I figure it, we have two choices, to stay here, or to leave."

Callie smiled at Arizona for stating the obvious. The other girl obviously had more to say on the subject so she didn't comment yet, waiting for the other girl to continue. Arizona surprised her however when she jumped up and ran out of the room. Before Callie could consider following her, Arizona was back with a notebook in hand. When Arizona opened it, she realized the blonde had given this a lot more thought than she realized.

"I've jotted down some pros and cons of each," Arizona said, ripping the pages out of the notebook and laying them on the table where they could both seem them. She opened the notebook to a clean page so she could write down anything she thought necessary during their conversation.

Callie tried to read all of the things Arizona had come up with, but Arizona tended to write things in her own little short hand that nobody else understood. She'd picked up a few things here and there, but still didn't understand most of what Arizona had written down. "You're going to have to explain this to me. You know I can't read your shorthand."

Arizona sighed, no one could ever follow her train of thought. "I really hate the idea of putting Amelia in day care or being watched by a stranger. Maybe when she's older she can attend preschool or something because she does need to socialize before hitting kindergarten." Callie nodded her head in understanding. She felt the same way. "So if we choose to move away for college I was thinking you could take day classes and I'd take night classes. That way one of us would be with her all day. The downside of that is we wouldn't get to take classes together."

"Why would you be the one to take night classes? Why not me?" Callie asked curiously. She loved that Arizona was so willing to sacrifice for their family in this way. She knew taking night courses might mean being in school even longer because there were less classes offered at night. Still it was something they both needed to agree on.

"Honestly, because it makes more sense to me. We both know we want to be doctors, but you know what field you want to go into. I'm not there yet."

"Alright, I can understand that." They'd talked in length about how they want to help people and how they want to make that happen, but only Callie was sure she wanted to be a surgeon. Arizona at times felt like following Callie into surgery, but the more stable hours of general medicine also called to her. Either way, they had awhile to decide yet.

"So what about staying?" Callie asked. She was impressed at the obvious length of time Arizona had spent thinking about this. While she tried to think about their future and make plans herself, recently Callie spent more time worried about the present. With Amelia in the hospital and all the holidays before that, she hadn't had a lot of time to give thought to the future.

"I'm definitely leaning towards staying, at least long enough to get our generals out of the way. Maybe attend something close to home, like University of Washington. That way Mom could still watch Amelia if she wanted to, and we both know she will. Plus we could take some, or all, of the same classes." The pleasure in her voice was not masked, as Arizona thought about being able to share their classes. "We wouldn't have to be separated all day," she said with a slight smirk.

"That's definitely a plus," Callie agreed. She was sure thought that the next however many years until they were settled in their careers would be trying ones on them as a couple. So spending as much time together as they could to keep their relationship strong was a good idea.

"We could always transfer later if we feel like we need to. Or we could just get our bachelor's right here at home. We'll probably have to go away for med school, but by then Amelia will be in school so it'll be a little easier on us."

Callie sat back in her chair, giving it some serious thought. There seemed to be a lot to think about for both choices, but there were definitely more pros to staying, at least for the time being. Arizona was right. They could always transfer later if they wanted to try something different. When she really gave it thought, she knew college was really the easier choice to make. Med school was much harder to get into, so they would likely have a more difficult time deciding. "I'm leaning towards staying too," Callie finally said.

"Really?"

"Really," Callie told her.

"Can I suggest one thing though?" Arizona asked. There was one aspect about going away to college that appealed to her, and she wanted to see if they could still make that happen. Callie nodded her head for Arizona to continue. "Maybe we could look into getting our own place? Not that I don't love it here," Arizona started slowly, getting up from her chair and sitting in Callie's lap. "But I'd really like to be able to spend some sexy time with my girlfriend without worrying about my parents hearing," she whispered into Callie's ear, making the girl gulp.

"That is… definitely something… we could look into," Callie responded slowly, having a hard time talking as their bodies brushed together.

Just as Arizona was leaning in for a passionate kiss, the side door was thrown open. "Girls, not in the kitchen, please," Barbara chastised, sitting the grocery bags down on the counter. "We eat in here."

"Party pooper," Arizona pouted, earning a laugh from her mother.

"Need any help, Mom?" Callie asked, causing both Barbara and Arizona to turn surprised eyes on Callie. "What?" Callie asked, not realizing why they were looking at her until she went back over her words. It had just slipped out, but Barbara had been more of a mother to her than her own mother ever had. It felt right to her. "I mean ah…"

"It's alright Callie, I don't mind. I liked it actually," Barbara quickly assured her. "And yes there are a few more bags in the car. If you'd be so kind as to get them, I'd appreciate it."

"Sure, no problem," Callie told her, placing a kiss on Barbara's cheek. "I like it too, Mom," she smiled before disappearing through the door.

Arizona could do nothing but watch the exchange between her mother and girlfriend with a smile on her face. Today was turning out to be a very good day.