I figured I should have put a warning for the time jump and the direction this story is taking, but I completely forgot. I hope you all enjoy the journey. It was either go this direction or just end the story in a couple more chapters. Either way, enjoy!
Chapter 22
"Calliope why are your parents here?" Arizona groaned; way too weak to do anything else as they both hid under the covers.
"I'm going to step outside for some air," they heard her father say.
Callie held her phone up to her ear as an out of breath Meredith answered, "I'm so sorry".
"Yeah, you said that already. Why did you bring them here?" Callie said as her frustration caused her headache to return. She could hear the hustle and bustle of the hospital in the background as people immediately started calling Meredith for help.
"They wouldn't leave. I think they said that they are visiting and wanted to see you. But they kept getting in the way and wouldn't wait in the waiting room, so I had no choice. I'm so sorry, but I have to go".
The line ended and Callie just dropped her phone to the side.
"Calliope, I don't want your mom to hate me any more than she already does, but I can't move. One of us should get up," Arizona said.
Callie sat up with the blanket covering her top half as she looked over to her mom's disapproving glare from across the room.
"If you're just going to stand there can you at least pass me my robe," Callie said as she watched her mother grab the satin robe from her chair and bring it over.
"Calliope Iphegenia Torres, it is 3 in the afternoon. Why are you both just in bed? We've been over to the hospital and it's a mad –" Callie cut her off by lifting up her hand to silence her.
"We are sick," she said simply, "There was some type of flu outbreak or something and a lot of the doctors are out sick. We are sick, tired, and in pain. So if you are here to complain, yell, or nag about lesbians and going to hell we physically can't handle it. You can get out of our house and just try again in a few weeks or something".
The elder woman's brown eyes popped at Callie's words. The crow's feet at her eye making her scowl look even more intimidating than usual, but Callie was too sick to let it affect her. Callie dug in the closet for some loungewear before tossing some shorts and a shirt over to Arizona.
Callie quickly got dressed as her mother continued to ramble on. "What do you mean our house?"
Callie didn't even realize that her father came back inside until he spoke, making sure to look at his wife just in case Callie and Arizona were still indisposed. "Lucia, we knew about Arizona for almost two years now. Why wouldn't you think that they lived together?"
Callie let her parents bicker as she went over to help Arizona sit up once she was able to pull her clothes on under the blankets. Once Arizona was up she looked completely disheveled and out of it. "Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Torres. Nice to see you". She tried her best to give them her best smile, but she couldn't even feel her face.
"Lucia, why don't you take the car and head back to the hotel and rest. I am just going to make sure our girls are alright, and I will meet you back there. We had a long day of traveling and exhaustion makes you cranky" the older Latin gentleman with salt and pepper hair and goatee gave the girls a wink but couldn't help but notice the distracting concerned look on his daughter's face.
"She is not OUR daughter," Lucia hissed at his inclusion of Arizona.
"Fine then she is mine," Carlos hissed back. They had a talk in the car about being nice in regard to Arizona and Callie's relationship, but seeing them indisposed in bed must have thrown that whole conversation out of the window.
Carlos was a little hesitant when he first heard that Callie was getting a divorce again and involved with another woman. Especially after Erica, it wasn't necessarily that he wanted her to be with a man, he wanted her to take a break from relationships and not rush into another failure. But the more his daughter talked about Arizona, the more he grew to like her. Anyone that could make his daughter that happy was a keeper in his eyes.
Lucia gave her husband a death glare before grabbing her bag and heading for the door. "I will see you later, Calliope".
Callie watched her mother exit and her father began to walk over. She looked up at a swaying Arizona. "I think I'm going to make it a law where only you can call me Calliope".
"Calliope, I feel like crap," Arizona said as she pulled herself to the floor to feel something cold.
"When was the last time you two took anything?" Carlos asked as he laid his jacket down and knelt down to feel both of their foreheads.
"Maybe 6 am," Arizona croaked out.
"You know, for you two to be some of the world's best doctors, you're looking pretty close to death". Carlos grabs the medication that they had on the nightstand and refills their water.
"Take this and come to the couch. Let's go" Carlos reached for both women as he wrapped an arm around both of them and guided them to the living room. He could feel the heat radiating off of their bodies and knew that even though they are both adult doctors they needed the help of Dad.
After Callie pointed him to the linen closet, he covered the couch in a sheet and laid them both down, and gave them each a light blanket. Callie started to move to snuggle up to Arizona when he stopped her. "Hey, hey, hey. Her temperature is much higher than yours, Mija. Let it come down first". Callie groaned in response but returned to her side of the couch
He came back with a few cold rags and placed them on their heads and chests. "Thank you, Mr. Torres" Arizona said with her eyes closed. Though her father was definitely more accepting of her sexuality, Callie's father was way more nurturing than her strict military dad.
"Don't mention it, Arizona," he said in his strong yet comforting accent. He stood up and began opening the windows. "All of these windows in here and they're all closed, how did you expect the sick to get out Calliope?"
"Hey, don't be mad at me. I'm sick" Calliope pouted.
"By the looks of it, you two probably haven't eaten anything either. What did they teach you two in those expensive medical schools? I need to be a professor. You two can connect severed limbs and do surgery on babies but can't get over a bug," Carlos rambled, "You need garlic and lemon tea. That will knock it right out of you. I'll start the soup. Thank god your mother left, because she always messes up the soup. Arizona are you doing ok over there?" he called from the kitchen.
Arizona finally went back to sleep as Callie reached over to feel her forehead. "Yeah, she ok Dad," Callie responded.
"You need to sleep too, Mija. I got this. Do you need a movie to relax your mind? What was that movie, you would watch when you were younger? The Goonies?" Carlos came around whispering, anticipating looking for the remote.
Callie just grabbed his hand and looked up at him as she felt her own tiredness creeping up on her. "I love you, Dad. Thank you". He reached down and kissed her forehead. "Ve a dormir. Lo saqué de aquí" (Go to sleep. I got it from here).
Sofia was sitting in the back row of homeroom just reviewing her notes for an exam that she had later that day. Once in a while, she would glance up and see the other students chatting and laughing with each other. But no one really took notice of her. Her eye caught the teacher's, who looked as if she was about to call her over. She tried to look away but it was too late. "Sofia, can you come here please?" She called after her.
Sofia sat her pencil down as she stood up. She wondered to herself why did students always have to get up and approach the desk. Why couldn't teachers just approach the students? A few heads turned in her direction but she just ignored them.
"Hi Ms. Adams," Sofia said with a smile wishing she didn't have to muster up the energy to speak right now.
"Sofia, Good morning. How are you liking the school and your classes so far?"
Sofia shifted a bit wishing that the young African American teacher would just cut to the point. "Everything is fine. The school seems nice. I am doing well in my classes".
"That's great! Your advisor ran into me this morning. She has quite a few meetings so she wouldn't have been able to talk to you personally. There's a summer program that she wanted to know if you would be interested in. The applications opened today, but the earlier you get everything in the better".
Sofia squinted her eyes in confusion. "What type of program?"
"Well, she heard from your last school that you were interested in becoming a doctor".
"A surgeon," Sofia corrected.
"Wonderful! Your teachers are all very impressed by your performance in their classes. But the program is a sleep-away camp that lasts pretty much for the duration of your summer break, I believe. Hospitals all over the world sponsor it. You take different medical-focused classes and then you get to observe operations and shadow different doctors".
"That sounds great. But I don't know how long I am staying here," Sofia asked as she stared at the booklet the teacher handed to her along with the application.
"Well, all you need is for your current foster parents or your social worker to sign off on it. There are locations in major cities all over the country: New York, DC, Miami, Houston, Atlanta, Seattle, Los Angeles".
Sofia's eyes lit up at the mention of Seattle. But she knew that her foster parents wouldn't let her go there.
"I see that look in your eyes. You definitely should apply Sofia. It's an amazing opportunity. It's highly competitive, but in my mind, the other applicants should be worried about you. I heard you have done similar stuff like this before. Just finish the application. I can even look over your entrance essay if you like. Then try to get as many credible references that you can. Maybe even some of the doctors and nurses that you were in contact with back in Washington. I can write you one and I know your advisor is already in the works of one for you. But those doctor friends are going to have the letters that really set you apart".
Sofia smiled and nodded her head. "Thank you, Ms. Adams".
The whole day Sofia could not stop smiling. After acing her exam she put all her focus on the application and who she would contact for recommendations. She knew the first person she would ask would be Callie. Callie would be so excited for her. Arizona, Meredith, and Alex would definitely write one too. She wondered if they could convince Webber to write one too. Webber wasn't in charge of the program so it wouldn't be biased of him.
The one problem was that she knew her foster parents and her social worker would be hesitant to let her go all of the ways out to Seattle. Every time she had a virtual meeting with her social worker she tried to convince her to send her back to Seattle but she wouldn't budge. Even when the social worker flew all of the ways out to do a surprise wellness visit and Sofia practically begged her to bring her back with her, she still denied her. She told Sofia that this is a great family and she had a better outcome of fulfilling her dreams and goals with a support system than she did from the group home. But she had a support system back in Seattle. It was just hard to convince her of that.
She looked at the slots that read her top three choices. She figured she would just leave them blank until the last moment. She would fill it in once she got everything signed off.
She was sitting in class when her excitement was getting the best of her. She opened up her journal and jotted down the number she kept inside on her hand before excusing herself to the bathroom.
She sped her way down the corridors to the main office where she was greeted by the round-faced secretary with ginger hair and her glasses hanging by her nose. "Sofia, right?" she asked more so to herself as if she was quizzing her own knowledge. "Yes, you're Sofia. I can I help you, honey". Sofia just smiled as she walked closer to the counter.
"Hi, Mrs. Pearce. I was hoping I could use the phone to call my foster mom," Sofia asked as she was a little nervous about rejection.
"Is everything ok sweetie? I'm surprised you don't have your own phone. The number of phones we have to take in this high school on a daily basis. It's good that you don't have a phone. It's less of a distraction. No wonder you're doing so well in school," Sofia just looked on wide-eyed as she watched the older woman continue to ramble without her even saying a word.
"Here honey. Just make sure you dial 9 first and you are all set".
Sofia just internally laughed at the woman. She didn't even get a chance to voice her made-up reason for calling. She quickly pressed 9 and then the numbers on her hand before her sweaty palms smudged the numbers too much. The phone rang a few times and Sofia was worried that it was going to go to voicemail, but when an older-sounding man with a Spanish accent answered the phone she was a little confused.
"Hello, this Dr. Calliope Torres's phone"
"Uhm. Hi, I am Sofia. I was hoping to talk to Callie" She heard an enthusiastic ahh from the older man that just further confused her.
"Sofia. I have heard a great deal about you. The one that has stolen my girls' hearts. I am Mr. Torres, Calliope's father".
Girls? Plural? Sofia thought to herself. "She mentioned you too, Sir. She said that you're a really great dad. Is she busy? I have to ask her something. I'm currently at school, but if I stay on the phone any longer they may not believe that I went to the bathroom".
She heard a hardy laugh through the phone before he began to speak again. "She's actually asleep. Her and Arizona actually. The doctors all got some type of flu. This is the second day I've been with them. Their fevers have gone down though".
"Sick? Have they been staying hydrated? Arizona gets stubborn with drinking water sometimes. She prefers coffee, but water is better. And Callie likes orange juice. She had a really bad cold a few months ago and she just kept drinking orange juice," Sofia informed as her concern grew.
"Uh, yes. I have seen the stubborn side of our bubbly Arizona. I did convince her to get more water in. Had to put a few slices of lemon. I went to the store and got orange juice for Callie. The strangest thing is that she requested it but now she won't drink it".
"It has to be pulp-free," Sofia interjected, "She doesn't like the sensation of pulp".
"Ahh, I see. I should run to the store before they wake up," Carlos said in amusement. This little girl knew a lot about the two. Concern traced her voice as she spoke, sounding like a little doctor in the making.
"Sofia, shouldn't you get back to class? I will tell them that you called but they may be worried about you skipping class. I can leave a message for them if you like".
Sofia sighed. She really wanted to hear Callie's voice. Even Arizona's voice probably would have made her tear up a little. But Mr. Torres definitely provided her with some much-needed comfort.
"Yes. I am applying for this summer program. I can travel to a major city and be taught by doctors. I will be able to shadow different departments. I was hoping that they could write me a letter of recommendation. I was going to ask some of the other doctors too, but if they're all sick I can find a way to email them".
"That's wonderful, Mija. You sound just like my Calliope when she was your age. I will tell them and I will tell them to tell all of their big shot doctor friends too".
Sofia beamed with excitement. "Thank you! I will mail her the information today. That way she can have it in a few days".
"Sounds like a plan. Take care Sofia. I hope to meet you soon".
Sofia was now more determined than ever to get into the program. She returned to class as she continued to develop her plan.