Keeping the lights off in the sleeping boy's room, Arizona did her checks and tests and his numbers were the same as when she'd gone home, not great but stable, and there was no indication about why she would have been paged. The Chief was waiting for her when the Peds surgeon rolled out of Wallace's door though, and it was suddenly clear why she'd been called in when the patient was fine, just sleeping. "Robbins…"
"Chief…" she answered him warily, already knowing what he was going to say. "It's not a good idea, sir." She squared her shoulders. "And you can't hold that money over my head. Because if I do that surgery, we will be getting paid to kill that child," stubbornly, she crossed her arms, "And you can't make me do that, sir."
"Dr. Robbins…"
"No!" Arizona denied him, belatedly lowering her voice and stepping away from her patient's room. "You cannot bully me into doing a surgery that I don't believe my patient will survive! And paging me in just to do that is completely unacceptable!"
His face pinched at her characteristic blunt stubbornness with him, brows furrowing as he waited to see if she would cry. "Dr. Robbins, the Andersons will get surgery for their son, even if it's not you performing it."
"You can't make me kill him!"
"And if someone else does the surgery, someone who's not as skilled as you are?" he countered, arms crossing his chest.
Arizona scowled at him. "I might be his best shot, but that doesn't mean I can do it." She breathed deeply, closing her eyes. "Surgery now would just be killing him faster. I don't think he'll make it off the table, sir. And if I managed to do it and he managed to survive, I'd be buying him days if I didn't kill him." Blue eyes opened slowly to lock gazes with him. "I can't do it, Chief."
"Not even if it will give him days with his parents, days they'll treasure?"
"No, sir. Because I'm a great surgeon," her mind echoed the same statement in Calliope's voice, "but I don't think I can give him those days. And if I did, he'd be in more pain, suffering worse, if he woke up at all," she shook her head, "His parents don't want that."
He eyed her with what she hoped was respect. "And this is a decision you can live with, Dr. Robbins?"
Swallowing hard and fighting tears, Arizona answered, "I wish that I didn't have to live with the decision to let a child die. But I can't do anything. And surgery means that I would be killing him myself. And not doing that, I can live with that decision," she nodded, "Yes, sir."
The older man gave her a few moments of quiet consideration, one hand scratching at his graying beard. "Very well, Dr. Robbins. I'll talk to Mr. Jennings."
Her body abruptly slumped as she let her resolve go. Standing up to authority had always made her cry and she could feel the unwanted surge of emotion rising to choke her. "Thank you, sir." All she wanted was to be back at home in Callie's arms.
"Go home, Arizona," he directed her gently. Everyone had seen how much this case had been weighing on her. "I'll see you tomorrow."
The night air was cold as she stepped outside of her car, breath fogging as she walked up the driveway. The house was dark, it was late, but she still felt relieved to be home. Opening the front door, she almost didn't even look toward the living room, just started straight up the stairs to her bed and her wife.
Then someone moved on the couch and she paused. "Hello?"
"Arizona." Callie's warm, sleepy voice made her melt. "You're home…" she moaned, sitting up. She could only huff as the blonde abruptly threw herself onto her, pushing them both back against the sofa. "Honey, are you okay?" Tears fell hot and hard on her shoulder as Arizona's control snapped. "Oh, Arizona, what happened?" she pleaded, arms wrapping protectively around her partner. "Is Wallace…?"
"He's alive. He's not good, but he's alive," Arizona gasped out, sobbing into her chest. "The Chief paged me in to talk about the surgery, but I told him I wouldn't do it."
"Oh, sweetheart," Callie sighed, stroking her hair gently. "It's okay. I'm here. I've got you." Hushing her tenderly, she kept Arizona close, rubbing her back and her soft hair. It broke her heart to see Arizona's pain, her sensitive soul suffering with her patients. And Wallace was special, she knew that. "It's okay," she whispered again.
Gasping breaths made it hard to hear her and understand, the words painful and broken. "You can understand, right? Why I can't do this at work and come home to it too?" Arizona's eyes were rimmed with red when she lifted her head.
Nodding, Callie guided her head back to her shoulder. "I understand," she promised softly. "It's okay, Arizona. It's okay. I'm right here and I'm not going anywhere." She could argue - every kid got sick, but not every kid got sick like Wallace was sick. But that wasn't what Arizona needed from her so she whispered soothing sweet nothings in Spanish into her ear and held her. And even as it hurt to watch her love hurt, she knew she wouldn't want to be anywhere else if Arizona was in pain. Spanish nothings weren't enough and she started whispering promises of her life and forever, vows they'd already made that she intended to keep every day.
The tears slowed gradually as Arizona cried herself out, her body relaxing more heavily against Callie's but she didn't move, just pulled one arm free carefully and found the blanket on the back of the couch and spread it over them.
Arizona woke up with a groan almost an hour later, grumbling, "We need a new couch."
Callie sucked in a short breath as she woke up as well, chuckling as her words sunk in. "I'm off on Saturday. We can go shopping." A deeper breath and she ran a hand down Arizona's back. "How are you?"
"Were you waiting up for me?" she asked instead.
"Yes, of course I was. You were upset when you left and I wanted to make sure you were okay."
Arizona sighed, snuggling into her. "I love you." She planted a kiss to the first skin she could reach. "And I love you for waiting up, but we need to go to bed. This devil couch is going to kill my back." Shifting, Callie let Arizona sit up, stretching her own back for a series of satisfying pops. "Ouch," Arizona offered sympathetically. "Sorry. I guess I was squishing you."
Callie leaned in to kiss her softly, shaking her head. "Hush. There's nowhere I would have rather been tonight."
"Well, I'll admit, when I was thinking about you being underneath me tonight, that wasn't how it happened in my head." Callie just smiled and laughed quietly at the blonde's sorrowful sigh at the loss of her birthday sex. It was now well past dinner time and bumping up against the middle of the night, but Arizona's stomach growled and she smiled sheepishly. "I missed dinner."
"The boys ate a lot of it, but I saved some for you." Callie stood up and took her hand, pulling her toward the kitchen. "I wouldn't let them have any cake though."
Moaning, the blonde wrapped both arms around Callie's shoulders and plastered herself to her wife's back. "I love you," she repeated earnestly, letting herself be dragged along. "Like, a crazy, ridiculous amount."
"Because I saved your birthday cake for you?" Callie asked with a chuckle, knowing exactly what she meant and feeling it herself. She was made to love Arizona Robbins. And Arizona Robbins was made to love her.
"Yes," she answered cheerfully. "Just for that!"
"So if I feed you cake for dinner?"
Warm lips pressed to her neck, scattering kisses. "Feed me cake and I'm yours forever," she promised. She was having the week from hell, watching a patient she cared deeply about suffer and die slowly while she could do nothing. But Callie knew the perfect thing to do, the exact thing to say to make her whole world brighter.
"You're that easy? Eternal devotion for some cake?" Callie teased, lifting the lid of her cake display and setting it aside.
"That looks amazing, Calliope," Arizona said earnestly, licking her lips as she looked at the thick, swirly chocolate icing covering her birthday cake. "It's not like I'm giving it up for some Little Debbie's or anything. Homemade or no love!"
Callie laughed heartily at that, slicing a good sized piece for them to share. "And if this cake has a layer of chocolate peanut butter fudge in it?" she asked, turning the plate so Arizona could see the layers. She took her answer from the extended moan against her neck. "I'm going to take that as eternal devotion. Would you get me a fork, please?"
Arizona was gone and back in a flash, pulling Callie around toward her and grabbing her face in both hands, kissing her without a word. Callie reached behind her blindly and put the plate on the table so both arms were free to wrap around Arizona without the possibility of smearing them with chocolate. A tongue slipped past her lips, battling her own tongue languidly. There was no need for dominance, not right now. Both hands slid into her hair, something she thought Arizona was unable to help before was now apparently completely beyond her control since her hair had been cut. She found ways to get her hands in it every day. Tugging lightly, Arizona changed the angle just slightly, sucking little nips to her bottom lip.
"Thank you," she murmured as the kiss slowed and stopped, both of them smiling.
"My pleasure," Callie hummed in answer. "Come here." Coaxing them toward to the table, she guided Arizona into her lap as she sat down. The blonde promptly flipped her leg over so she was straddling Callie's lap. "Oh," the Latina said, pleased but surprised by the change.
Arizona smiled almost shyly, the expression a contrast with their current position, two fingers pushing a lock of dark hair back gently. "You're not tired of being under me yet, are you?"
"Never," Callie promised, kissing her softly before she leaned her head around to find the plate and fork on the table. She shifted it closer to the edge and cut off a bite, balancing it carefully and bringing it back for Arizona. "Here. I hope you like it."
Taking her bite, blue eyes closed as she savored the melting chocolate on her tongue. "Calliope, if you didn't already have my love forever, you've definitely got it now." She licked her lips, a small moan slipping out. "More please?" Arizona requested, leaving her mouth open for it. Callie laughed but fed her another bite, free hand stroking invisible patterns on her wife's thigh.
Noise from the hall prefaced the appearance of Tim and Alex, Karev going straight for the cake. "Finally!"
Tim pecked a kiss to his sister's cheek on the way, smiling. "Happy birthday, Arizona."
"Thank you," she said graciously, directing the next bite of cake to Callie. "This cake is amazing. So you guys can have some, but save me like a quarter of it," she directed.
"What are you going to do with a quarter of this cake?" Alex questioned around his own mouthful.
Blue eyes rolled in his direction. "I'm going to eat it, duh!" She took the next bite Callie offered her. "Cause my wife made it for me and it's my birthday cake." And she had a feeling she would want the chocolate comfort after Wallace Anderson's case ended the way she knew it would. But she didn't say that part out loud.
Callie could see the emotion hiding behind the perky mask and she leaned up to kiss her, sharing the taste of the chocolate between them. Arizona's fingers slipped back into dark hair, her forehead leaning against Callie's. "Do we trust them not to eat all the cake?" Arizona looked sideways at the two men, considering and finally nodding. "Good, because I want to go upstairs." She kissed her jaw and down her neck. "I've got another present for you."
Arizona sighed, shaking her head and smiling. "Calliope, you know I don't like birthdays."
Callie's smirking wink was quickly changing her mind though. "You're going to like this. Trust me." Arizona forced her expression to remain unconvinced. "It's black." Blue eyes widened just slightly. "And red lace right around here." She traced her fingers across the tops of her breasts.
Abruptly Arizona was on her feet, hauling Callie up with her. "Good night, guys," she said quickly.
"Night," Alex answered, smirking knowingly as he finished his cake with one big bite.
Dragging her up the stairs, Arizona spun to kiss her as soon as she could, backing down the hall toward their bedroom without ceasing her affectionate display. Hands in hair, lips on lips, tongues against tongues, she didn't surrender any bit of it. Even on her worst day, Callie made her feel better and she just wanted to sink into that comfort and never, ever leave.
So she whined when Callie gently pulled away from her, hands on her shoulders keeping her at a distance. "Baby, I have to go change." Arizona just dragged her in for another series of kisses, Callie sucking on her tongue. "Mmh, Arizona…"
"You're hot just like this," Arizona pleaded, both hands slipping under her shirt to touch skin. "Calliope…" Their stumbling steps tumbled them into bed, the blonde whining in protest when her lover promptly rolled away.
"Honey, you're going to love it, I promise," Callie said, swatting hands from her hips. "Trust me."
Arizona grumbled as she flopped back into bed, thrashing the sheets with both hands while she sent a glare after her wife. "You owe me so big, Calliope," she stated, kicking her shoes off without lifting her head.
"Give me two minutes and I swear I will make it up to you," promised Callie earnestly, blowing her a kiss from the bathroom door. Closing the door behind herself after one last look at her frustrated wife, Callie was quick to strip out of her clothes. She could hear Arizona's continued fuming, the muted sound of one of her sneakers hitting the bathroom door between them, and Callie laughed loud enough that she knew Arizona would hear her.
Pulling her birthday surprise on, she took a moment to ruffle her hair, checking herself out in the mirror. Arizona was wild for her shorter haircut and of course her breasts looked spectacular, the red lace teasing the peaks of her cleavage while the black camisole clung to her curves. Matching red lace boy shorts completed the surprise and she gave her hair a final quick adjustment before she opened the door to return to the bedroom.
She got a surprise of her own when she found Arizona sprawled half out of her clothes and completely asleep in the middle of the bed. Callie couldn't help smiling, one hand coming up to cover her mouth while she watched Arizona breathe deeply though an open mouth. She was completely adorable. "Baby," Callie whispered, moving closer. There was no response and she coaxed the jeans down her perfect legs gingerly, cautious not to wake her.
Arizona only stirred when Callie tucked her carefully under the sheets, turning over to nestle closer and settling her head just above the red lace of her surprise. Callie just stroked soft fingers through her hair gently, smoothing a kiss to her forehead.
"Happy Birthday, Arizona," she breathed, feeling an arm slide around her as she closed her eyes and sank into her partner's embrace.
