Thanks so much for all of the recent reviews. The support that this story has gotten makes me so, so happy.
When Arizona got to the hospital, the same nurse who had called her was attempting to draw Sebastian's blood since she figured that blood work would be ordered right away. The little man was having nothing to do with it, though. He was used to being poked and prodded since birth, but there was something extra scary about it this time. One minute he was reading books with his mom and the next he was at the hospital. He didn't really understand what was happening.
"Are you having a rough night?" Arizona asked him because she hoped that he would start to feel like he was being listened to. "You'd rather be playing with Mommy at home, wouldn't you?"
"Yeah," he replied.
He looked over to the nurse with the saddest, most innocent expression on his little face. This worked whenever he wanted something from his parents. Maybe it would help with the nurse as well.
"Stop," he simply requested.
"One more poke," she told him. "Hold very, very still for me. Can you do that, Big Boy?"
He kept moving which wasn't helping her be able to stick the needle. If they could just distract him for a second, she could get it in.
"What's this teddys name?" Arizona asked of the stuffed pal that had arrived to the Emergency Room with them tonight.
"Bear," he said.
"Oh, just Bear?" she asked. "Because he's a bear? That's a good name. How did I not know that?"
The nurse had been able to get the needle in without him even flinching this time. He looked over at his arm.
"Done?" he asked.
"Well, that has to stay in there for a little bit," the nurse said. "But Mommy can cuddle you now if you want."
"Dada?"
"He's on his way," Wren promised. "Want to play games on my phone with your other hand while we wait?"
"We'll get him an echocardiogram as soon as we can," Arizona said. "Has he had any other symptoms? How's his energy level been today?"
"He's tired, but not more than usual since the surgery."
"Okay."
"He doesn't have a rapid heart rate," the nurse said.
"Good."
"What are you thinking?" Wren asked.
"We'll have to wait and see, but a fever can mean a lot of things. It is reassuring that he doesn't have other symptoms. That doesn't mean it's not rejection, but..." Arizona answered honestly.
"I just freaked out."
"I'm a Pediatric surgeon and I've done similar things with my girls," she said. "It's all part of being a mom and you're a great one."
"Thank you."
"I'll be back in a little bit, okay Sebastian?"
"No," he replied.
Wren gave him a kiss as she carefully scooped him up into her arms so that the nurse could finish the blood draw while she held her boy.
"I'm sorry, Buddy," she replied. "I wish we could be having fun right now instead."
About an hour later, Callie came into the living room to find Faith lying face to face on the floor with Hershey.
"Puppy, you's pity," she told her dog. "You so nice."
"Hershey's pretty and nice?" Callie smiled. "Who else is nice?"
"Addie," she decided.
"She is very nice," Callie agreed. "She's helping Mama fix hearts for babies like you when you were a little baby. That's nice of her, isn't it?"
"Be a helper," she smiled. "Where Addie?"
"Addie is upstairs," she said. "Can we give her some alone time, please?"
Both of the kids thought Addison was so much fun. They wanted to play with their guest all of the time. However, Callie didn't want Addison coming to Seattle to help Arizona out and being forced to hang out with their children all of the time. Addison didn't mind, but everyone needed a little time to themselves.
"Sof doin'?" she decided to ask.
"Sofia's in her room looking for her other shoes," she said. "I was helping her, but I think they're at Mark's. She still tells me they aren't, though."
Faith giggled.
"What are you and Hershey doin'?"
"Be buddies, Maday," she answered.
"You're so full of love, Faith," she smiled. "I love it."
"Maday, you a buddy?"
"I'll be your buddy," she nodded. "Of course! Your mamas and your sister are the first buddies you got. I've always been your buddy."
"Yep."
"Ever since you were in Mama's belly."
"Maday?"
"Nope, you were in Mommy's," she told her. "Who was in mine when they were a baby?"
"Puppy?" she asked.
"Not the puppy!" she laughed as she tickled her. "Who else could it be?"
"Ummm..."
"Sister?"
"Sof," she nodded.
Callie picked up her cell phone. Arizona wasn't home yet and she knew that her wife took any case that was hypoplastic left heart syndrome related personally. Maybe she shouldn't have, but she did.
"Should we text Mommy and tell her she's the best doctor ever?"
"Yep," she nodded.
"Tell me what to say," she suggested. "What do you want to tell Mommy?"
Faith thought about it. It took her a minute to come up with a response as she looked around the room. Her toddler mind must have contained so many possibilities.
"Hi," she simply said.
"That's all?"
"Big hi."
"You're so much fun," Callie told her. "Did you know that?"
Arizona crawled into bed with her wife five hours later. She was being especially careful with Sebastian, but he would be just fine. They didn't know why he had had a fever, but they did eventually get it to go down. None of his tests showed any other signs of rejection, so he appeared to be in the clear.
"How'd it go?" Callie asked as she awoke.
"It was a long few hours full of waiting and seeing."
"A few?"
"Okay, several," she corrected herself. "But still. The standing around is the worst part. I just wanted to have a definite answer for them and I didn't until the fever broke."
"It broke?" she smiled. "Good."
"He's at home in bed right now," she nodded.
"Just where he should be."
Arizona smiled. She couldn't wait to restart the trial with Addison's help. Of course even that would have failures, but she just knew – something was telling her – that they were going to get to send plenty more babies home where they belonged. They would also spend time in the hospital, but they would survive, she hoped.
"I can't wait to start the trial."
"A few more weeks."
"How much do you think we could pay Addison to move here forever?"
She laughed.
"I don't think Addison's interested in money. She's got enough of it."
"I hate not being able to bribe adults," she pouted. "It's so easy with kids. I can get Faith to do anything if I have chocolate on hand. More people should be like preschoolers."
"Did you just compare Addison Montgomery to a child?"
"Just saying. What did L.A. do to get her?"
"She'll be here when she needs to be."
"Thankfully."
