"Arizona, please just listen to me?" Nick asked.
The blonde sighed. "Nick, if it's some sorry excuse my mom told you, I really don't wanna hear it. They've tried this before."
"Zona, just.." Nick sighed. "Fine." The man just stopped trying to convince the blonde otherwise. He understood why she didn't want to hear it, but if she would just listen, she would understand what Nick had to say was serious.
Part of Arizona wanted to know why Nick was being so insistent, but she also just figured it was something stupid that would hurt her more in the long run, and that was the last thing she needed right now.
Within a few minutes, Lucia had opened the front door, Callie and Arizona's three oldest children now being home.
"Uncle Nick is here!" Jackson had said the second he walked in the door, running through the hallway to find him. "Hey, mom!" He said as he rushes past his mother, who was walking towards the doorway to greet her children and mother-in-law.
"Hey, slow down. He's in the living room." Arizona had reached her arm out to stop her son, but she was too late. Jackson disappeared to the living room. Arizona sighed before she went over to the front door. "What's wrong?" She asked immediately, seeing Summer hugging her grandmother as Max got his shoes off.
"She had a bad day..." Lucia answered.
"Hi Mommy! I wanna go see Uncle Nick!" Max hugged his mother's leg before rushing off behind his brother.
When Max was gone, Summer let go of Lucia and made her way to her mother. It was very obvious something had upset the young girl.
"Baby, what's wrong?" Arizona wrapped her arms around Summer. Lucia started to set the girls things down since she had been holding on to them.
The young brunette shook her head.
Arizona looked to Lucia, who shrugged. Summer obviously hadn't wanted to talk about it, so, after saying goodbye and thanking Lucia, Arizona looked down at her daughter. "How can I help you?" She asked quietly. The blonde had just wanted to make her daughter feel better.
"I don't wanna talk about it." Summer answered, still holding on to her mother tightly.
"Okay..." Arizona let out a breath. "Do you want to sit on the couch with me? We don't have to talk."
The girl nodded. So, that's what the two did. Arizona had sat down and opened her arms for her daughter, who immediately sat next to her and cuddled up close.
Nick had noticed that his niece seemed upset, but decided against asking questions.
After a while, Summer had looked up at her mother. "Can they go play somewhere else?" The brunette whispered.
"Are you okay?" Arizona asked, immediately getting more worried.
"I wanna talk to you alone, mom. Please?"
Arizona nodded. "Hey, Nick?"
"What's up, Zona?" Nick looked up, a smile on his face as Max tackled him to the ground.
"Why don't you take this mess to the playroom?" Arizona had laughed- mess was an understatement.
Nick figured there was a logical reason, so he stood up. "Who wants to show me the toys in the play room?" His question made the children run off to the playroom, and he gladly followed.
Arizona couldn't help but roll her eyes. Her children were pretty good at listening- to everyone but their mothers. They never were resistant to anyone else's directions, and sometimes they even did what Callie or Arizona asked with no problems. But, Arizona knew if it was her who just tried to get the children into the play room, it would have taken longer than a few seconds-- it would have been a huge ordeal.
The blonde looked down at her daughter. "What's going on baby?"
The young girl kept her face buried in her mother's chest. "Why don't I look like you?"
Arizona's face scrunched up in confusion. "What?"
"I don't look like you. My teacher said we are supposed to look like both our parents. When I said I only looked like Mom, Joey said that means my mom cheated. He said cheating is bad."
"What?!" Arizona jumped at the sudden turn this conversation took. "Summer what are you talking about?"
Summer sighed, moving her head slightly so she could look at her mother, who looked beyond confused. "We were learning about genes and stuff, and how you get genes from both your parents, so you look like both of them. But I look nothing like you. My hair and eyes are dark, and my skin is darker than yours." Summer tried to explain the situation. "So when I told them I only look like one of my parents, Joey said that means my mom cheated."
"Okay, okay" Arizona waved her hands. "Stop with the cheating. No one cheated, don't say that." The blonde didn't like hearing her daughter say that. The thought of her or Callie ever breaking the trust they had disgusted her- it wasn't something she ever wanted to hear her daughter say.
"What even is it?"
"Summer, you know what cheating is. Remember that movie we watched with Mama, the one where you got mad at the character?"
"Oh." Summer nodded. Months ago, she had watched a movie with her mothers, and the character cheated on his wife, and Summer got angry about it, not understanding why someone would do that. "You and Mama did that?!"
"No, Summer. God, no." Arizona said quickly. "Mama and I love each other. No one did that."
"Then why don't I look like you?" Summer was beyond confused.
"Because..." Arizona sighed. She really didn't want to explain sperm donation to her ten-year-old. "You only look like both your parents if you have a mom and a dad." Arizona looked down at her daughter.
"But what about me? I have a mom and a mom" The girl was genuinely curious, but still concerned as to why she didn't look like Arizona.
"Well, that's why you look a lot like Mama and not like me, because when you have two moms, you only look like one of them."
"Who said that I look like Mama and not you? Jackson and Max and Olivia look like you."
"And Mason and Kaylee and you look like Mama. It just... it depends." Arizona stroked the girls hair.
"Depends on what?"
"What did you learn about genes today?" Arizona asked a question back, trying to tie this in to her daughters learning.
"I already told you. You get your genes from your parents. And there's big genes and little genes and the big genes make you look the way you do."
Arizona nodded at that information, opening her mouth slightly. "So, it's the same thing you learned. Mama's genes made you and Kaylee and Mason, and my genes made Jack, Max, and Liv."
"Why didn't they just say that at school?" Summer questioned.
The blonde sighed. This wasn't the first time the couple had to deal with issues because of their children's teachers making comments. The couple understood that some people would just always be ridiculous about two women raising children together, but it was harder as the children got older and were more aware of people making rude comments about their family. "Because, sometimes at school they're stupid."
Summer giggled when her mother said the word stupid.
"They are. And I'm sorry that they said that to you, it's not nice."
"It's okay."
"No, it's not." Arizona hadn't meant to say that out loud, but she had.
Summer just looked at her mother. "I'll tell Joey my moms didn't cheat."
Arizona laughed. "You do that baby." She encouraged. The blonde couldn't wait to tell Callie about Summer's teacher-- she knew Callie would be fuming, just like she currently was. The two mothers would definitely have a chat with that teacher. And, annoyingly, that wouldn't be the first time they had to do that.
Five years ago...
Arizona and Callie held hands as they walked toward their daughters school building.
"I don't really know how these things work" Arizona had said. The couple was going to an open house-their daughter had just started kindergarten.
"Neither do I" Callie laughed. Most things with Summer they hadn't known what they were doing. Summer was their first child, they had done everything for the first time with her, so starting school was no different. "Hey, when Jackson starts kindergarten, we won't be the new moms, then we can laugh at all the confused parents" Callie suggested, causing them both to laugh as they made it to the front door of the school.
"You're not wrong." Arizona had let go of Callie's hand, grabbing the door for her.
Callie smiled at the sweet gesture. "Thank you" She walked through the door, waiting for her wife to catch up. The couple stood off to the side, needing to figure out where they were going.
"Max will be okay, right?" Arizona asked as she got out the paper with their daughters classroom number on it from her purse.
"Baby, he'll be fine. He loves my parents" Callie reassured. Max was only a few months old, and Arizona spent all day every day with him. She was always beyond nervous to leave him, since he was still so little. Luckily, Callie was there to help her stay calm.
"I know, but he's just so young..." The blonde unfolded the paper and started to read it.
"He'll be alright. We should probably find this classroom" Callie leaned in and looked at the paper. "It can't be that hard, this is an elementary school, if a five year old can find a classroom we can too" Callie encouraged.
The blonde laughed at how dorky her wife was, following close behind the woman as she walked down the hallway.
"Babe, isn't this the one?" Arizona asked, stopping outside a door.
Callie looked down at her paper, nodding. "Oh, yeah. Good job!"
The couple walked into the room laughing at themselves, being met with their daughters teacher, who they heard about all the time from Summer.
"Mother's of..." The teacher asked.
"Oh, Summer. Torres." Callie answered.
The woman nodded. "And who are you the mother of?" She turned to Arizona.
The blonde bit her cheek. This was going to be fun. "We're together." She pointed between her and her wife.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Older sister? Did you go to this school? I don't recall ever having a Torres before Summer..." The teacher had smiled.
"I'm Summer's mother." Arizona had answered, trying not to be too harsh, but she was already annoyed by the woman's cluelessness.
"But I thought... you just said..." The woman looked confused as she pointed to Callie, who had just said she was Summer's mother.
It took everything in Arizona not to raise her voice. She took a deep breath. "We're both Summer's mothers."
"Oh! Like a step-mom and birth mom? I should probably have that written down..."
Callie stepped in, seeing as her wife was getting pissed. "You're not understanding. We are married, Summer is our child, there's no step mom and birth mom-- Summer has two mothers."
"Oh! Really?" The teacher had made an unreadable face. "No one told me that."
"Hey, you said you were Summer's moms?" A new voice joined the conversation.
Arizona looked to find the source of the voice, seeing it was another woman- probably a mother. The blonde nodded.
"I'm Maggie- Kaya's mom, Kaya talks about Summer all the time- I think they've been having a lot of fun together" The woman walked over to the couple, shaking their hands, and basically saving them from their daughters teacher- who didn't seem all that accepting.
Arizona smiled, shaking the woman's hand. "Oh! Summer has talked about Kaya a lot too!" She wasn't lying- their daughter had been mentioning many new friends she had made, but a little girl named Kaya had seemed to be their daughters favorite friend. "I'm Arizona. It's so nice to meet you."
"I'm Callie, great meeting you." Callie had also shook the woman's hand. As the couple stepped away from their daughters teacher and toward all of the other parents, Callie couldn't help but be grateful for this woman she had just met. That conversation could have gone sour very quickly-- the last thing they needed was to upset their daughters teacher.
"Is Summer your oldest?" Maggie asked, trying to start conversation as the teacher went back to greeting parents.
Callie nodded, letting out a breath. "Yeah, she is. Is Kaya your oldest?"
Maggie shook her head. "Kaya's the middle child, so I've been through all this before." The woman laughed.
"Definitely would be nice to have done this before- and the first impression didn't make it any easier" Arizona had spoken quietly.
Maggie smiled and nodded. She had seen how awkward the conversation had been.
Callie wrapped an arm around her wife, pulling her close. "We should get Summer and Kaya together some time." She said to the woman.
"That would be great!" Maggie agreed. The woman had exchanged phone numbers with the couple.
Arizona and Callie had both somewhat calmed down after their rather brutal first impressions with their daughters teacher. Theyhad known that having children as a gay couple would come with judgement, but that didn't make it any easier.
Back to Current...
Callie walked through the front door. She noticed a car outside, but couldn't remember who drove that kind of car.
"Ari, baby, who's here?" Callie took off her shoes, calling for her wife.
"Come in the living room" Arizona called just loud enough for Callie to hear. The blonde was laid back on the couch with Summer curled up at her side. The ten-year-old came home from school overly upset, and had been laying with Arizona ever since. Nick was still here since he had wanted to see Callie before he left, so he was in the playroom with the kids, letting Arizona comfort Summer without interruption.
Callie walked in to the living room. "What happened? Where are the kids? Who's here?" Callie asked immediately.
"Nick is home, so he stopped by earlier but he wanted to see you too so he's still here. The kids are playing with him." Arizona answered calmly as Summer sniffled, burrowing her face further in the crook of her mother's neck. Arizona ran her fingers through the girls soft black hair.
"Is she okay?" Callie looked at Summer, making her way over to the couch.
"She had a bad day, she just needs some hugs, right?" Arizona pulled away to look down at Summer, a warm smile on her face. The girl wiped her tears, but stayed silent.
"I'm sorry baby" Callie frowned, leaning over and kissing Summer's head. "Tomorrow will be better." She rubbed the girls back before leaning up and kissing Arizona. "How do you feel?"
"I feel fine, how was work?"
"Same old. Mark says hi" Callie smiled.
"Mm" Arizona nodded.
"I'm gonna go see Nick and the kids quick. I brought dinner, is he staying for dinner?"
"I have no clue, you'll have to ask." Arizona kept brushing through Summers hair as her wife nodded and went down the hall to the playroom.
"I heard uncle Nick is hereeee" Callie said, immediately getting the kids excited by the sound of her voice.
"Mama!!!" Max was the first to hug Callie, but soon enough all of the children-besides Summer- were hugging Callie.
"Hi my loves! Are you having fun with uncle Nick?" She smiled, hugging each one of them before standing up straight again.
"Yeah! We played with cars!" Olivia answered.
"Oh yeah?" Callie smiled. "Hey Nick, I didn't know you were back." Callie hugged the man.
"Figured I had to stop by, I thought the baby would've been here already." He hugged back.
Callie laughed. "Nope, not yet. That kid wants to stay put."
Nick laughed as well, "Hopefully soon!"
"Yeah..." Callie couldn't help but smile at the thought of meeting her and Arizona's little baby. "Are you gonna stay for dinner? How long are you in town?"
"Oh no, I was just sticking around until you got home, I gotta get out of here soon, though."
"Where to?"
"Gotta see my parents before I head off again, just here for the day" He explained.
"It was nice of you to come see us, we all missed you" Callie smiled. It was true, over the years, Callie had grown closer to Nick. He was funny, and sweet, and it was obvious he cared for Arizona, which made Callie happy.
Nick smiled. "I missed you guys too. I actually wanted to talk to you about something, Zona doesn't seem too open to listening" Nick stood up. The man had tried to talk to Arizona earlier, and she had basically shut him down.
"Oh? What about?" Callie tilted her head in confusion as Nick stepped out of the room. She followed, leaning against the wall in the hallway.
"Barbra and Daniel."
"Well, that's why Arizona didn't wanna listen. Daniel made a huge scene last time we saw them, the kids were there and everything." Callie explained. She knew how badly that had impacted her wife, and it was understandable that she hadn't wanted to talk about her parents.
"I know but... Cal, she really needs to listen." Nick sighed in frustration.
"I can't force her to listen, she doesn't want to see them." Callie shrugged. They had now tried with Arizona's parents, and it didn't work, so Callie understood why Arizona had given up.
"Will you listen?" Nick asked hopefully.
Callie crossed her arms, looking at Nick, indicating he could say whatever he needed to.
"Daniel has a brain tumor..."
"What?!" Callie had gasped, covering her hands with her mouth. That didn't sound good.
"Barbra just told me... she asked if I could tell you since Arizona had been ignoring all of her calls.
Callie sighed, knowing she and Arizona had a conversation and had decided to stop trying with Barbra, which was why she had ignored the calls.
"She said he's had it for years.. they can't remove it. It's um. It's killing him."
Callie didn't want to seem rude or unemotional, of course this was upsetting, but she was confused as to why Barbra wanted them to know this now. They had been talking to her for a few months, and she never mentioned it.
"It's in a part of his brain where it massively impacts his behavior. It makes him angry, all the time."
Well, there's the reason. He was a complete ass to Arizona.
"Barbra said that, of course, she can't blame everything on his tumor, but the level of aggression in the way he spoke to Arizona... it could've been that."
Callie bit her cheek. The brunette felt bad for encouraging her wife to ignore her mothers calls.
"I mean. From the way he's treated Arizona, I don't know how much of the tumor it actually was." Nick stated. He knew that Arizona's parents were terrible to the couple. He had seen it first hand. "But, Barbra doesn't feel that way. That's him."
"Nick, don't you think we know that?" Callie snapped. She hadn't meant to get angry with him, but this was just all too much to comprehend.
"I-" Nick started.
Callie interrupted. "Can you uh... God, I need to talk to Arizona." Callie mumbled, slowly walking down the hallway. She checked on her children before going into the living room, leaving Nick in the hallway.
"Is he staying for dinner?" Arizona asked when she saw her wife. Blue eyes traveled the brunettes body; her posture, her facial expression. "What's wrong?" Arizona knew instantly that something had happened.
Callie sat down. "Your-" She looked at her daughter, who was still cuddling Arizona. "Uh, never mind. I'll talk to you later."
"What is it?" Arizona looked confused, but then realized Callie probably couldn't say it in front of their daughter. "Oh, yeah... ok."
"He's not staying for dinner. He just wanted to stop by, I guess he's only here for the day" Callie changed the subject.
"Ah" Arizona nodded.
"How are you feeling, my sweet girl?" Callie asked quietly, turning her attention to Summer.
The brunette shrugged.
Callie frowned. "I'm sorry baby." The woman laid her head on her wife's opposite shoulder, watching her daughter. The young girl had her eyes closed, her long, dark, eyelashes on full display. Callie's lips curved in to a gentle smile. Their daughter was beautiful. She looked a lot like Callie, which Callie was so against at first. She didn't really know why, but Arizona had pushed until she got what she wanted. Callie gladly let her mind off the news she had just gotten as she stared at her oldest daughter.
Ten Years Ago...
"Calliope..." Arizona had dragged out. "Just, humor me."
Callie scoffed, looking over at her wife. For the past week they had been having conversations about how they wanted to proceed with having a child, and Arizona had an idea that she wouldn't stop pushing for.
Arizona took Callie's hands in hers. "Close your eyes."
Callie rolled her eyes, but did so nonetheless.
"Now... picture coming home from work... And I walk up to you, with the cutest smiling brunette you've ever seen in my arms. And they hold their little arms out to you, their big brown eyes sparkling when they see their Mama. And then you take the baby in your arms and they start giggling as you hug them tightly... they have the cutest laugh ever..." Arizona was exciting herself just saying this.
Callie nodded along.
"How can you say no?"
The brunette opened her eyes. "Arizona..."
"You won't have to carry, I'll do it. I'm just asking you to sit on that table for like forty minutes, I'll spend nine months on the table, with your cute little baby in me."
Callie sighed.
"Please?" Arizona begged.
"Zona, It'll take so much longer than you think. And what if it doesn't work the first time?" Callie didn't want to disappoint her wife, and using her eggs gave the most opportunity for disappointment.
"But, then our baby will have a little part of you and a little part of me. Isn't that so special?" Arizona asked quietly.
"Arizona.." Callie said again.
"Calliope, please?"
"No. Don't you Calliope me." Callie knew she couldn't stand her ground when Arizona called her that.
"Come on" The blonde groaned softly. "It'll make me so happy."
"You're not being fair." Callie stood up from the couch.
"I'm not wrong, that baby would be the cutest baby on this planet."
Callie shook her head.
"Can you just... think about it?"
"Fine."
"Yes!!!" Arizona cheered.
"Thinking about it does not mean it's happening."
"Yeah, it does." Arizona just smiled.
Back to Current...
After Nick had left and the family had eaten their dinner, Callie was wiping down the twins high chairs while Arizona cleared the table.
"These two never fail to make a mess" Callie broke their silence. Summer still seemed overly upset, and was just sitting in the living room, some of her siblings watching the tv, some of them off doing their own things.
"Just like you" Arizona played, a soft smile on her face as she loaded the dishwasher.
"No, I think they got that one from you" Callie teased back.
"Yeah, whatever helps you sleep at night" The blonde turned around, glancing at her wife. "What did you wanna tell me earlier?"
Callie bit her cheek. "Oh, uh. It's a long story."
"We have a lot of cleaning to do, we've got the time." Arizona laughed.
"Zona, baby." Callie put down the rag she had been wiping things down with, getting serious. "Can you... sit down for me?"
Arizona turned off the sink, looking at her wife, confused. "Is everything okay?" The blonde's voice wasn't as playful anymore.
"Come here" Callie had sat down, pulling out a chair for her wife as well.
"Calliope, you're worrying me." Arizona sat down, not liking the sudden change in mood.
"You know how Nick was trying to talk to you... I guess before I came? And you shut him down?"
"Yeah, he was trying to bring up my parents. But, I told him... After last time we're done with them. At least, I am. I can't deal with the negativity. It's not good for the kids, either." Arizona recalled the couples conversation from a week ago, where all of those points were made.
"I know but... He wasn't trying to convince you to talk to them."
"Uh, yeah, he was." Arizona said matter-of-factly.
"Baby," Callie started, her voice sympathetic.
Arizona's eyes narrowed in confusion.
"Nick was talking to me... and he uh..." Callie grabbed Arizona's hand in her own two hands, rubbing the back of it gently with her thumbs. "Your dad is sick, like, really sick. They never told anyone... Your mom was trying to tell you when she was calling you, so she asked Nick to tell us, which is why Nick knew." Callie didn't mean to sound brutal, but she wanted to be honest with her wife.
"What do you mean?" Arizona was just confused.
"Nick didn't know much... but he said. Well, your dad has a brain tumor." Callie whispered.
"So...?" Arizona was waiting for the rest.
"I guess it can't be removed."
"Oh, God." Arizona sighed.
"I'm sorry.." Callie felt terrible. She wished she could have done something- she wished she had stopped her wife from deciding to stop talking to her mother.
Arizona had ignored her wife at first, but when she looked up, she saw a sad look in those usually happy brown eyes and her heart broke. "Calliope, my love... it's not your fault, you know." Arizona had leaned forward, wrapping the woman in her arms.
"I know but if I-"
"Callie, stop." Arizona spoke firmly, using her strict parenting tone with her wife rather than her children. The blonde hugged her wife for a few more minutes before sighing and pulling away. "I should probably uh, call my mom."
"Yeah... you sit here, I'll grab the phone" Callie immediately went back to being protective over Arizona, not wanting her to have to walk over to get the phone.
"Thank you." Arizona just smiled and complied, not bothering to put up a fight she knew she would lose.
The woman called her mother and had started talking. Callie watched as her wife nodded along to whatever Barbra was saying. Arizona had started to tear up, and Callie immediately noticed, her concern growing.
"Yeah, mom... I- okay..." Arizona's voice broke as she started crying.
"Oh," Callie had whispered, hugging her wife close. Callie just stayed in that position, comforting when wife, until she heard Arizona say her goodbyes. Callie looked up at her wife.
"He uh..." Arizona started to cry again, and immediately wiped her own tears. "He only has a few months."
"Honey" Callie sympathized.
"The tumor uh... He's had it for years, but it's at the point where it changes his personality..."
Callie bit her cheek.
"He might not have meant being so horrible in front of the kids." Arizona wanted to believe that the horrible behavior wasn't really her father.
Callie sighed, "So what do you wanna do?"
Arizona shrugged, more tears falling. "I don't... I don't know... This doesn't change how he treated us I just..."
"I know."
"I don't know what to say, Callie."
"Why don't we... you're gonna want to see him, right?"
"I don't... I don't know. What if he just..." Arizona didn't know what she wanted.
"You should probably see him. Maybe without me and the kids. Maybe he'd be nicer if you guys were alone." Callie suggested.
"No, I don't want that."
"I know, but, you don't want your last memory of him to be... well, him being an ass."
"No, I don't."
"Maybe you should see him then..."