ALEX AND AVRIL GET A HOUSE

Alex let out a deep laugh, "I have no clue. I'm still at Meredith's place." Callie bit her lip, something Alex found absolutely adorable and sexy at the same time. "I have a proposal for you" Callie said. Alex smirked his cocky look, "Usually, the man does those unless you want to get on your knees for me." Callie punched him in the arm as they both laughed. "Shut up Alex. What I meant to say was that I still have my old 2-bedroom apartment. It was the first place I had when I moved here 5 years ago. I never sold it, just rented it out. When Miranda and I decided to live together, I bought a house. Now, Addison lives with us…anyways I'm offering you my old apartment for you and Avril." He was quiet for a moment, "You, Bailey, and Montgomery live together?" he asked with a wiggle of his eyebrows. Callie rolled her eyes, "That was your only take away?" she asked with a laugh. She noticed by the way that he wasn't looking at her and popping his knuckles, that he was nervous. "Alex, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable" Callie mentally head slapped herself. He reached out to reassure her, "You didn't Cal. I promise. I'm just not used to people giving me things without something in return. What I'm trying to say is I can't accept a free apartment from you and I'm sure I can't afford it either." Callie shook her head, "I don't want you to pay for it Al. You are now responsible for a little human. She's your focus now and she needs stability. Casa de Grey isn't the place to raise a child. It's a frat house. Besides, you'll need space and she needs to be around people who can speak sign language. It's not a charity or pity thing. It's more of a 'single parent is a hard ass thing to alone with no help'. I'm going to be a single parent in a little while, so I'm helping you now." Alex stared her in the eyes to ensure that she was serious; she responded by taking two keys off her keychain. "So, you just carry these keys around?" Callie shrugged in response. Before he could take the keys, his pager went off. "Dammit, it's my patient." Callie put the keys in his pocket and said, "Go check on your patient; I don't have anywhere to be right now, so I'll stay with her." "Callie are you-" "Yes I'm sure", she said with a looked that warned him not to argue with her. He stood up and her voice stopped him, "While you're gone, make a list of things you two need and I'll get it before I leave the hospital. Barring any emergencies, I'll be off shift in 4 hours. I would like to at least get the apartment ready for the two of you."

"How are you going-" he stopped talking when he saw the look of warning on her face, "I'll write it all down." Callie gave him a smile so bright that it almost stopped his heart, "Great. Go check on your patient. I'll page you if anything changes." Callie walked over to the bed and softly ran her thumb over the surprisingly hollow cheek, "Who does this kind of thing to such a precious little girl?" Callie took out her phone and called her father. "Hello bambina." Callie smiled, "Hi papi. Does your company make cochlear implants designed for children?" Carlos Torres was quiet for a moment, "Is there something you want to tell me Calliope?" If only you knew "There's a patient, tiny little girl actually, that has a partial one in, but it looks botched. There's swelling and blood seeping out." "That sounds barbaric. How old is the child?" "She's 2." "We do make a model that may work for your patient. How soon do you need it?" "Immediately. Shepard and Robbins will operate as soon as the swelling goes down. I don't know if she wanted it or was forced, but the scarring doesn't suggest that it was done by a certified surgeon." "I'll send it priority tonight." "Thank you papi." "Not a problem bambina." "Papi, are you—how are you doing with the separation from Mami?"

Her father let out a shaky breath, "It's really hard. I love her with all my heart, but I can't choose her over my children. She's forced my hand on so many occasions; you telling us that you're bisexual, Marisol getting married at 17, Pote choosing to stay in Havana, Arturo telling us that he's homosexual, and Nazanin dying. I just can't take my wife forcing me to choose between her and my children. I'm a devout Catholic, so I won't be divorcing her. I just need to have separation from her." Callie felt her heart break for her father. She thought for sure that her parents would always be a united front and was completely caught off guard when they weren't. After her sister was killed by a drunk driver the day of her medical school graduation, Callie would've never survived the grief without her father. They felt responsible because they were late meeting her for dinner. That guilt and grief brought them closer together than they already were. Callie has always suffered the most with Nazanin's death because she lost her twin sister." Callie looked down at the large portrait tattoo of her sister on her forearm and willed the tears away. She'll never meet my child. "Calliope are you still there?" She cleared her throat, "Yes daddy. I'm here. I'll let you get back to your day." "Wait, if it a neurological surgery that this little girl needs, why is she your patient?" "She had broken bones too." "From what?" "I don't know papi, but it reminds me of 'the incident'." They both felt a chill run down their spines.

Callie hung the phone up when Avril started to squirm. It took about two seconds for Avril to completely become hysterical. Callie rushed over to prevent her from yanking out the IV. She started to wail and Callie placed her hand on Avril's stomach to calm her. She rubbed her knuckles back and forth slowly. Callie was afraid to lift her, due to possibly causing her more harm than good. Although she couldn't hear, Callie placed her head softly on Avril's stomach. She looked at the little girl, while continuing to rub her knuckles, and hummed a lullaby. Avril felt the vibrations of Callie's humming and started to calm down. Soon, she was staring right back at Callie with a calm look on her face. Callie continued to sing until she was sure that Avril was calm. She removed her hand and shifted it towards Avril's ear.

Avril recoiled immediately and her eyes filled with tears. Callie grabbed Avril's hand, placing on her own ear and rubbed in circles. Callie moved her hand and let Avril keep rubbing her ear. Avril seemed fascinated with Callie's dark hair and even tucked some behind her ear. Callie reached for Avril's ear again; this time she let her. Callie rubbed circles around the surgical scar until she felt a very warm spot just below the incision. Callie calmly paged Robbins and Shepard, while rubbing her knuckles against the little girl's stomach once more. When she turned around, there was a smiling Addison standing there with a camcorder. She rolled her eyes, "Addie, what are you doing?" Addison gave a bright smile, "Someone bought me a camcorder for Christmas, expecting me to be some guru. I figured that I'd capture said person off guard. You're good with her by the way. Clearly, you're practicing for the bun."

Callie momentarily forgot about being pregnant as she glanced down at her stomach with a small grin, "Maybe." Addison walked over, oblivious to Avril's sudden tension and asked, "So, are the rumors true? You and Karev had a love child?" Callie laughed so hard that she almost snorted, "Of course, we have all kinds of hot monkey sex. No, Addie she's his niece. She came in pretty banged up and now he's an instant dad. I actually need you to do me a favor." Addison felt somber for Karev but perked up when Callie asked for a favor, "What's up pussycat?" "I asked Karev to make me a list of things that they need. I'm going to give him my old apartment, so that he doesn't have to raise a child in the Grey frat house. He'll probably be here all night, but even if he isn't, I just want one thing to work in their favor when she gets released." Addison kissed Callie's cheek, "You, pussycat are one in a million. They're lucky to have you." Callie immediately shook her head, "Not like that. Alex just needs a friend right now, and I need a distraction, other than work, from my pitiful life." Addison gave her an all-knowing smile, "Whatever you say pussycat."

Callie felt tiny fingers dig into her arm and immediately turned around to look at Avril. It was then that she noticed the scared look on her face; she turned back around and noticed that the room had far too many people. Addison excused herself from the room. Robbins spoke, "You paged us?" Callie cleared her throat, "Before I show you, please take slow steps…she's easily shaken. I felt a patch of hot inflamed skin directly under this incision behind her ear. I think it might be an infection; the surgery looks like a hack job. I called my father and asked him if they made cochlear implants for children. He's sending one priority mail. I don't know what your surgical plan is, but at least it could be done right this time." Shepard nodded, "Yeah I noticed that as well when I looked over her scans. I guess that depending on what we see when I open up her ear, we might have to replace the implant. I'll confer with Sloan since he's done more ENT surgeries than I have." Robbins tried to move towards Avril, but she started to cry loudly. She fought more and more against Callie until she cradled against a warm chest. Callie and Robbins shared a look, causing Robbins to take a step back. Callie said, "Show her what you want to do on me first." Avril watched as Robbins listened to Callie's heartbeat. Sensing that it wouldn't hurt, she pulled away from Callie slightly to let Arizona listen to her heart. Every vital and test that Robbins wanted to run on Avril was performed on Callie first. It took nearly 2 hours, but both Shepard and Robbins got the necessary tests done. "We're going to schedule surgery for first thing in the morning" Robbins said. Callie got Avril settled again just as the dinner cart came around. The food looked horrible, but the little girl needed to eat something. Callie tried, and failed, to hide her grimace as she tasted the food before giving it to Avril. For the first time all day, Callie felt her heart burst with happiness as Avril laughed. It wasn't extremely loud, but audible enough for Callie to notice.