After finishing her rounds on all the babies in the NICU, Arizona spoke with the charge nurse and compared notes over which babies they felt could either be graduated to join their mothers in their rooms or could be discharged to go home to their waiting families. On her way out of the NICU to start her rounds on the mothers, Arizona noticed Larry sitting alone with his three girls. Walking up beside him, she greeted, "There's a proud papa if I've ever seen one." The man looked up, beamed at her, and replied, "They're just so…perfect. Looking at them, you'd never know they almost never made it here." Arizona looked down at the little girl in his arms, ran her thumb across her tiny little forehead and murmured, "That's the magic of medicine." In a surprise move, the man carefully took her hand and replied, "With all due respect, I feel the magic lies in these hands. You are the only one who would touch this case, so don't sell yourself short. I just…I don't know what Erin and I would have done without your support, encouragement, and of course your expertise over the past few months. I feel like we owe you so much more than we could ever repay." Arizona swallowed the lump in her throat, squeezed the man's hand and replied, "I appreciate that, thank you. Honestly, the reward I get for doing this, the repayment comes when I get to see you all walk out the door as a family. In our case, I feel as though a friendship is blossoming and I will get to see these girls grow up and my three will have some playmates." Larry let go of her hand and agreed, "I think the four of us will need all the support we can get."
Arizona looked around and asked, "Where's Erin? She's usually beating down the door to get in here." Larry furrowed his brow and replied, "She's in a little pain and said she thought she was running a fever. The nurse took her temperature and it was normal, but she didn't want to risk coming in here until she saw you." Arizona nodded and assured him, "I'll go in there now and take a look." The man smiled in appreciation and returned his attention to his children. When Arizona left the NICU, she stopped by the nurses' station, picked up her tablet, and pulled up Erin's chart. She noticed in her notes that she had predicted a 2 to 5 day stay for Erin, depending on how she was healing. With today being Friday, they were at day 3 and up to this point, Erin seemed to be healing well and was getting around just fine. While the doctor in her knew anything could go wrong and an infection could arise at any time, the mother in her knew leaving your child at the hospital in the NICU was terrifying, especially after almost losing them. Taking a deep breath and already preparing her words in her head, Arizona headed into the new mother's room.
When she arrived, she found Erin staring at the NIC-View on the monitor hanging from the ceiling. Smirking, the fetal surgeon announced, "You know, you could be in there holding them." Erin turned in her direction and Arizona saw the tears running down her cheeks. Grabbing the box of Kleenex, she rushed to her patient's bedside and asked, "Oh sweetie, what is it?" Erin wiped her eyes and pleaded, "I can't leave them yet Arizona. I know it's day three and I'm healing just fine and…and…I've been walking and…I just…" Arizona took the new mother's hand and soothed, "Shh, calm down, working yourself up isn't going to get you anywhere okay?" Erin took in some deep breaths, wiped her eyes and nose, then looked at her doctor expectantly.
Arizona started, "I get it. My fiancé was in recovery and my daughter was in NICU for three months. For the first month, I slept on the couch in Callie's room or a rocking chair in the NICU, then worked all day until my chief threatened to fire me if I didn't leave the hospital." Erin snorted, "Now that's commitment." Arizona shrugged, "That too, but it was fear. I was so scared something would happen and I wouldn't be there. But even if I was there, I couldn't do anything about it." Erin nodded and replied, "But you could, you're a surgeon." Arizona shook her head and answered, "We aren't allowed to work on our own family. I got off on a technicality with Sofia because back then with the laws, I wasn't considered her parent. I had to adopt her." Erin nodded then smiled brightly and replied, "Well, thanks to me and our voters, you and Callie don't have to worry about any of that." Arizona furrowed her brow in confusion and asked, "What?" Erin nodded and replied, "In New York, both parents' names go on the birth certificate even in a same-sex marriage." Arizona squealed with excitement and hugged her patient. She had no idea and was pretty sure Callie didn't either. Still beaming her super-magic smile, she declared, "You have no idea the things we've gone through in regard to adoption and custody of Sofia. This will take a lot of stress off of both of us." Erin could see the blonde visibly relax and wondered about the story behind it, hopefully she would get to know the couple better and learn for herself.
Deciding to take advantage of her surgeon's good mood, Erin asked, "So how about you return the favor and…" Arizona chuckled and replied, "Sorry Senator, that would be considered unethical…but I could do my actual job and see what's going on here." Erin huffed, "Fine, do it the moral way." Both women started laughing and Arizona began her checkup. After she finished, the fetal surgeon read through the notes again, made a few of her own and put her tablet down on the side of the bed. Erin looked at her nervously, unable to read the blonde's face and commented, "I can't tell if this is going to be good or bad." Arizona tilted her head and replied, "It's not bad exactly, but I am going to keep you here at least until Monday. You don't have any sign of infection, so you can still visit the girls. But your incision still looks a little angry, it's pretty red so we will keep an eye on that. We've just taken you off the morphine so I also want to give you a couple of days on regular Tylenol or ibuprofen to see if that keeps the pain at bay and give your bowel movements time to return to normal." Erin cut her off and asked, "Seriously, you're monitoring my shit?" Arizona snorted and asked, "Why do you think the nurses ask you if you've had a bowel movement yet?" Erin blinked a few times and replied, "Well, I guess I never thought about it. I just answer their questions." Arizona replied, "Yes we monitor that, sometimes you can get backed up from the pain meds, but there could be a blockage of some sort and we just need to make sure before we send you home. You aren't in any danger, there's just a combination of things I want to monitor before I let you go." Erin sighed in relief at both the news that she wasn't actually sick but also that she didn't have to leave right away. Arizona smiled at her patient and encouraged, "Now stop being whiney and go see your children."
Erin smiled then looked at her doctor's slightly protruding belly and asked, "How are yours treating you?" Arizona smiled, brought her hand up to cover her baby bump and replied, "They are already very opinionated about what I eat and when, I have had a few bouts of evening sickness, but the medication and a few tricks we've tried are working for now." Erin smiled and asked, "How far along are you again?" Arizona quickly replied, "This is the end of week 8." The senator looked the surgeon up and down and replied, "In the real world, we are about the same size, can I offer you a little piece of advice?" Arizona breathed out a sigh of relief and nearly collapsed, "Yes! Please, anything you've got." Erin laughed and suggested, "Anything of importance that you planned on doing, you need to do within the next 3 or 4 weeks. Like if you planned a romantic get away or special weekend or something, do it soon. Anything after week 15 is going to be a pain in the ass, including tying your shoes and to be blunt, wiping your ass." Arizona chuckled and Erin continued, "I don't ask for help, you don't get to where I am, especially in a 'man's profession' asking for favors, but you need to ask for help and you need to accept it graciously when it's offered." Arizona groaned at that one and replied, "Yeah, I don't do that very well either. For many reasons." Erin nodded and replied, "I figured, that's why I threw that in there. Also, please feel free to call me. I know I'll have my hands full, but it gets a little lonely not knowing anyone else who has been through this. Lot's of women have been pregnant, but very few have carried a Volkswagen Bug in their uterus." Both women laughed and Arizona stood up, cringing at just the thought and ordered, "Go see your children. I'll see you Monday." Erin waved and called the nurse to help her out of bed.
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Kim stood at the reception desk of Fresh START waiting nervously for the staff meeting to end so she could catch the people she needed to talk to before they all went their separate ways. When she saw her boss emerge and start to head in the opposite direction, she called out, "Cal…um Dr. Robbins-Torres, could I have a moment please." Callie looked to Maria and Lorraine who both shrugged their shoulders and all three women made their way to see the young girl. Callie reached the desk first, noticed the nervousness and asked, "Are you okay? Do you need to speak privately?" Kim looked around the lobby, then at the three women who had all become so important to her and replied, "I am okay, good really, but I would like to speak to you all privately if you have a few minutes." The three women looked to one another again, this time in concern and Lorraine replied, "For you, we make time." She waved a nurse over, asked her to cover the front desk and they all made their way to Callie's office.
Once they got inside, Callie sat behind her desk, Maria and Lorraine sat on the sofa, and Kim paced the office. Neither of them knew that they were all thinking the same thing, but each of them felt that another baby announcement was about to hit the air and vowed to stop drinking the water. Kim looked around at the concerned faces and held out her hands and explained, "It's not bad I swear, it's just…I, I never had a family before you and I never had anyone to go to for help or to bounce ideas off of and you've all done so much and I'm going to ask for another favor and I'll pay for most of it, I just…I need some help because I've never done it before and I don't know where to start and I'm sure you've all done it and had one and been to some and…" Maria cut her off, "Kim, calm down and take a breath before we need to get an oxygen tank in here. What's going on?" Kim looked around, took a deep breath and spit out, "I want to throw Julie a baby shower and I don't know how." With that, she sat on the chair across from the sofa and buried her face in her hands, embarrassed by her confession.
All three women looked at one another, visibly deflated, audibly let out a sigh of relief, and started laughing hysterically. Kim looked up, almost crying now at the thought they were laughing at her and whined, "This isn't funny!" Callie shook her head, stood up, walked over to rub the girl's back to soothe her, took the seat next to her and explained, "No honey, we aren't laughing at you, we are laughing because we all thought you were going to tell us you were pregnant and well, there's enough of that going around right now." Kim looked at the women in horror and exclaimed, "Eww, gross! No! Just…ugh, I haven't even had sex…no." They started laughing again when Lorraine slumped in her seat and sighed, "Oh thank God!" Kim shook her head and asked, "Can we get back to the point here? Can you umm…where do I even start? Is it too late?" Callie shook her head and replied, "No, it's not too late, this is just about the right time." Kim nodded then asked, "Can you um, can you ask Arizona to come over? I don't want her to feel left out." Callie arched her brow, she wasn't sure that was the best idea, but she did as the girl asked, after all, her wife had surprised her in all kinds of ways. Pulling out her phone, she sent off the text and the four of them started talking about their ideas. She scrunched up her face in confusion when she saw the response, "Great minds…be right there," and told the others her wife was on her way.
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When Arizona reached the lobby, Julie waddled her way up to her and the blonde couldn't help but think how cute she looked. Biting back her smile, she greeted, "Hello mama, how are you today?" The young girl had one hand on her protruding belly and one on her back and retorted, "I'll ask you the same thing at 30 weeks and then you'll know." Arizona's face morphed into one of sympathy and she instantly wrapped one arm around the girl's shoulder and asked, "Uncomfortable huh?" Julie nodded and replied, "I'm sorry, it's just, I feel like he is sitting on every vital organ and I have to pee every ten minutes and I'm either crying or snapping at people and I just want him out. Can't you just do it now?" Arizona stuck out her bottom lip and pouted, "I'm sorry sweetie, he's gotta cook for another ten weeks." Julie's head snapped up and she exclaimed, "TEN WEEKS?" Then she lowered her voice and almost whined, "I can't make it ten weeks." Looking up to Arizona, she said, "Oh crap, I gotta pee, oh and Dr. Crankenstein wants to see you. You'd think she had a kid playing football with her kidney." Arizona chuckled at the nickname as the young girl waddled off to the bathroom.
Arizona knocked on Nicole's partially opened door and proclaimed, "Hey, Julie said you wanted to see me?" Nicole lifted her head in the direction of the voice and retorted, "Well, seeing anything would be nice, but yeah you weren't so hard to look at I guess." Arizona shook her head and rephrased, "Did you need to talk to me?" Nicole nodded and commanded, "Close and lock the door please." Arizona did as she was asked, then crossed the room and took a seat in front of the older woman's desk. Tilting her head, Nicole asked, "Do you think people ever thought about those of us with disabilities when they came up with those phrases? Like she wants to see you, shake a leg, lend me a hand, hear me out. Who comes up with this shit?" Arizona hung her head, even though her mentor had a point, she wondered if there was an actual reason for this summons. Taking a deep breath to calm her patience, she asked, "Is that why you asked to speak to me?" Nicole waved her hand and snapped, "Of course not, you threw me off topic." Arizona scoffed and replied, "Right, it was my fault."
Nicole shook her head and declared, "The kid is pregnant." Arizona furrowed her brows and replied, "Ahh yeah, we knew this." The older fetal surgeon huffed and stated the obvious, well what was obvious to her at least, "The kid is pregnant, about to pop, has no family, nothing but the bare essentials for this baby…don't people do things for pregnant people? Who does it? Who goes to those things? Who decides what to bring? When does it happen? Where? How?" Arizona sucked her lips between her teeth because at this point her mentor was tossing her hands around frantically and she was showing more signs that she was actually human. Clearing her throat so she didn't laugh out loud, the blonde asked, "Are you talking about a baby shower?" Nicole stopped her movements, tilted her head and asked, "Is that one of those parties where people bring gifts for the baby and play stupid games and eat cake?" Arizona snorted and replied, "Yes, that's a baby shower." Nicole nodded, snapped her fingers, pointed in the direction of the voice and exclaimed, "One of those! She needs one." Just then, Arizona's phone went off with Callie's text tone, making her smile and she laughed out loud when she read the message and sent a quick response. Looking at her mentor, she declared, "Looks like great minds think alike. Come with me."
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All four occupants of Callie's office were in shock when Arizona walked in with Nicole in tow explaining how the older fetal surgeon had just brought up having a baby shower. Callie looked at Arizona skeptically and the blonde mouthed, 'I know' before leading her friend to Kim's vacated chair and shutting the door. Arizona went straight to her wife, kissed her chastely, then seeing there were no more seats, gladly sat on her wife's knee not missing the smirk on her face as she did so. Having moved to the couch, Kim felt far more comfortable being in charge now that she had been given some pointers and declared, "So this is what we have so far." She went through the list of decorations they came up with, cake design, and food; all of which she knew her best friend would love.
Arizona piped in with, "Oh, we need a onesie station so everyone can make a onesie, Cal and I will provide the materials for that." Callie was speechless and just stared at her wife until Maria piped in with, "Oh and a scrapbook station. I'll take care of all the supplies for that. Arizona, is there a way to print previous ultrasound pictures?" Arizona nodded and replied, "Of course, just let me know when you need them." Maria nodded and returned, "Oh and the craft store by my house has the best fabric pens and paint for the onesies, that's what we used that time the girls made their own shirts." Arizona nodded and replied, "Thanks, I'll stop by there and get them." Callie watched the back and forth between the two and asked, "When the hell did you two swallow Martha Stewart?" Everyone in the room laughed and Callie added, "It's like the only time you get along is when we are throwing a party and you both come out of left field with these uncharacteristic ideas." Both women looked at the ortho surgeon and at the same time replied, "You're just jealous you didn't come up with it." They looked to one another then and burst into laughter as Maria declared, "Okay, yeah it's a little creepy." Arizona nodded and leaned back into her wife.
After getting the entire party planned, Nicole suggested, "Why don't we do it at my place? We have plenty of room, we won't have to transfer her gifts, and to be quite honest, its much easier for me to get around in familiar territory." Kim smiled and replied, "As long as that's okay with you, that would be great, I'll decorate and make sure it is all cleaned up after everyone leaves." Callie chimed in with, "We will all help with that." Nicole nodded and replied, "Thank you." She looked in Kim's direction and stated, "I know you said you would pay for everything, but let's make a deal, you take care of invitations, decorations, and buy your friend a nice gift, and let me worry about the food, the cake, and the prizes. You just make a list of what you want and we will make sure it's all taken care of." Everyone looked at each other in surprise and Nicole could tell by the silence people were shocked once again. Finally she spoke up, "Again, stop looking at me like that. Yes, I am a cranky, sarcastic, bitchy, pain in the ass, but I have a heart. I've worked a lot of years and I have a lot of money and no one to spend it on. When I die, it will probably be donated for research just like my body. So I figured why not enjoy it a little and spread the wealth while I'm here to listen to others enjoy it. I like the kid, she's grown on me, so have you and you have far more important things to spend your money on." Kim stood up, walked in front of Nicole and proclaimed, "I'm going to hug you now." The older woman snorted, held out her arms and replied, "I figured, that's all you people do. Hurry it up, we've got things to do." Kim leaned in, hugged her and whispered, "Thank you," in her ear, then stepped out of her arms.
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When they were all finished up, Lorraine went back to cover the desk and Kim suggested, "I'll walk you back over Dr. Herman, I'd like to check on Julie and I promised Dee I would help her with inventory today." The older woman nodded and took the young girls arm. Watching them leave, Arizona declared, "I swear she becomes more human every day." Maria and Callie both laughed and continued laughing while Arizona explained her conversation with Nicole prior to Callie's text. Callie shook her head and commented, "You two laugh, but seriously, Arizona you hated baby showers and bridal showers and any kind of party and Maria, you even went so far as to take sick days whenever there was one going on at the hospital, but you two have been leading the charge any time someone brings something up, so what gives?" Maria shrugged, "For me, I have to be invested in the people to give a damn. I love having parties, I just need to care about the people." Arizona replied, "I did hate parties, but I had to learn to bend for the people I love and once I did, I realized how much fun they really were and planning them is awesome." Maria snorted and quipped, "That's because it's something you can control." Callie laughed at the truth of that statement and Arizona recognized it proudly, nodding her head, "Yup, not even going to lie about it."
Knowing she had to head back, but really not wanting to leave her perch on her wife's lap, Arizona sighed, "I guess I should go. I have a few more patients to see, but I should be out early enough to go get the girls." Maria interjected, "Actually, I have the afternoon off and Bella has been begging for Sofia to come spend the night. She's also been begging to see the new Disney movie so I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone." Callie looked to Arizona, she knew her wife loved taking Sofia to those movies and making a day of it, so she would let her decide. She was surprised when the blonde responded, "Hmm an evening alone with my super-hot wife, or an evening surrounded by screaming kids to watch another singing princess being saved by the handsome prince…" Looking at Callie, she tapped her finger on her lip and asked in a high pitched princess type voice, "Whatever shall I do?" Maria started laughing at the sarcasm and started for the door saying, "We have extra clothes, we'll call before we drop her off tomorrow, but it probably won't be until later in the afternoon. Miguel wants to take them back to that escape room now that it's opened so they can go to the fairytale room." Callie chuckled and asked, "He wants to or he gave in to all the begging?" Maria put her finger on the tip of her nose, pointed to her friend, then left the room closing the door behind her.
Without saying a word, Callie pulled Arizona into a long sensual kiss, moaning as their tongues danced with one another. Having her wife on her lap for nearly an hour and not being able to touch her was nothing short of torture. When the kiss came to it's natural end, Callie rested their heads together and whispered, "What I wouldn't give to carry you to that sofa right now and have my way with you." Arizona ran her fingers through Callie's soft stubble and replied, "You don't know how badly I want that too. At least we have the house to ourselves tonight." Callie kissed her nose, lifted her head and asked, "You really don't mind missing the movie? I know how you love taking Sofia to opening day of a Disney movie and making a big deal of it." Arizona nodded and replied, "I'd much rather spend the evening with my very own…OH NO! Disney." Callie furrowed her brow in confusion and more than a little disappointment and asked, "You want to go to the Disney movie?" Arizona shook her head, ran her hand through her hair and answered regretfully, "No, we were going to take Sof to Disney World for Christmas. There's no damn way I could walk through that place at 24 weeks pregnant."
Callie pursed her lips trying to think of a solution and asked, "When should you stop flying?" Arizona thought for a minute and responded, "With multiples, it's recommended to stop after week 20, but…" Callie nodded, "Still not an option." Arizona replied, "When I was talking to Erin earlier, she told me if I had anything important or special I wanted to do, I only had another 3 or 4 weeks before things started getting really hard or uncomfortable for me." Arizona laid her head on her wife's shoulder and thought about it for a moment, trying to figure out if a trip was even possible at this point.
Callie knew her wife's brain was hard at work and tried to help her out by asking, "What are you thinking? Talk it through with me." Arizona took a deep breath and answered, "I'm really not sure what I am thinking. I mean, all the reasons we wanted to take her are still on the table and I feel like it's even more important now that the babies are coming." Callie agreed, "We decided this was a great age for her to go while she still believes in the magic and will enjoy herself the most. I think you're right about the babies too. You and I have never taken her anywhere on vacation together and I think it would be a very special memory for her to have." Arizona nodded and replied, "Me too. I just, will I ruin the fun being pregnant?" Callie chuckled and asked, "How?" Arizona shook her head and replied, "I don't know, there are some rides I can't ride." Callie kissed her wife's nose and replied, "Honey, you wouldn't ride those rides if you weren't pregnant." Arizona pouted, "I might." Callie laughed and answered, "Any ride you can't ride, Sofia is either too small for or would be afraid to ride. If she does find one, I can ride with her and it will give you a chance to sit and rest."
Arizona reached out to play with Callie's chain and asked, "What about work and school? We just took a week off last month and…" "What if we don't take a whole week?" Callie asked. She continued, "What if we just take Friday and Monday? We can leave Thursday night, spend Friday and Saturday at Disney World, see how things are going Sunday, she might be pooped out or we could go to Universal or just hang out at the beach, do a little shopping, whatever we want, and come back Monday. I know we were planning a whole week for Christmas, but we were still only going to spend a couple of days at the park." Arizona tilted her head and realized that it really was doable, smiled brightly, and asked excitedly, "We're going to Disney?" Callie nodded and answered exuberantly, "We're going to Disney!" As if to seal the deal, the two brushed their lips together in a quick chaste kiss. Callie thought for a minute then suggested, we can decide when we will go and how we are going to tell her this weekend. Arizona nodded her agreement and kissed her wife again.
After a few minutes of enjoying each other's company, and a little making out, Arizona looked at the clock, stood up, and pouted, "I really do need to get back. When are you off today?" Callie followed her wife to the door and answered, "I'll be done with my appointments by around 2:00 pm, but I wanted to spend some time in the lab doing some research on your leg and getting the basic structure put together. I was hoping you could join me and we could still get out of here by dinner time." Arizona was extremely excited about being able to be a part of the process. She knew she would more or less just be the sounding board and give input as both the amputee and the fetal surgeon, but this was important to her, not just because it was something she needed, but because it was something she should have done five years ago. Also, if she were being completely honest, she loved watching Callie work. Throwing her arms around the ortho surgeon's neck, she squealed, "I can't wait to get started. I have my afternoon rounds, then I was going to get some paperwork done. Just text me when you're finished and I'll head over." Callie smiled brightly and realized she was excited about working on this prototype with Arizona as well. They rarely got to work together on anything like this and she couldn't wait to see what they came up with. She leaned out of the hug, captured Arizona's lips in a long slow kiss and murmured, "I'll see you soon. I love you."
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Callie stood at the reception desk talking to Lorraine while waiting for Arizona to come over to work on her leg when the administrative assistant called out, "Well look what the cat dragged in." Callie turned to see Dr. Jeffers, her sports medicine specialist, walking through the doors with a brunette woman with bright blue eyes and felt there was something oddly familiar about her. She knew she'd never met her, but she'd seen her picture somewhere and for some reason, her presence wasn't settling well with her. She turned and shook the man's hand and greeted, "Jeffers, it's good to see you. How are the Yankee's treating you? You're coming back to us soon right?" The other surgeon replied, "Absolutely boss. It's been great, but I'm ready for my regular schedule to resume. I hope there hasn't been too many changes since I've been gone." Lorraine laughed, looked at Callie and declared, "Oh, there's been a few. Who's your friend?" It didn't escape her notice that the woman had been eyeing her boss since she walked through the door and the interest seemed to be far more than professional. Dr. Jeffers looked to the other woman and tsked, "Where are my manners? My apologies, this is Dr. Eliza Minnick, she is the team's athletic trainer and was interested in seeing where I worked." A light bulb instantly clicked in Callie's brain when she heard the name and when the other woman held out her hand to her, Callie wanted to smack it away. Instead, she politely extended her hand and listened as the other woman proclaimed, "Dr. Torres, it's such an honor to meet you, I've heard so much about you. I actually worked at…" Callie tightened her grip on the other woman's hand almost painfully, shook it once, then let it fall and replied, "I'm well aware of who you are."
Both Lorraine and Dr. Jeffers looked at their boss, surprised by her cool demeanor and shared a confused look. Lorraine started to gain some understanding of where the tone was coming from when Callie corrected, "Actually my name is Dr. ROBBINS-Torres, I'm recently RE-married." Callie smirked when she watched the other woman swallow and try to maintain her composure as she turned to her companion and asked, "How about that tour, I forgot I have another meeting to get to." Lorraine muttered, "I bet you did." Callie wasn't sure how she felt about seeing this woman. She knew most of the hospital hated her, she put a resident in danger, and most importantly, she had a thing with Arizona, but she didn't know if Arizona knew she knew that or if it was even important enough to mention. Before anyone could make a move or she could figure out her feelings, her wife walked through the door and she was sure she would find out everything she needed to know within a few minutes. She was slightly surprised when Arizona barely gave the woman a second look and went straight into her arms kissing the life out of her.
Arizona walked into the lobby and her heart dropped to her stomach when she saw the murderous look on her wife's face. When she recognized the person standing in front of her as the woman who just up and ghosted her as April later explained to her, Arizona realized Callie knew about their relationship, if you wanted to call it that, or she just learned about it. Either way, she could see her wife was experiencing some sort of discomfort and she intended to put a stop to any questions or doubts she may have immediately. Walking straight to her wife, she wrapped her arms around her neck, leaned up, and captured her lips in a long searing kiss. She let out a sigh of relief when Callie immediately returned the gesture and she felt strong arms snake around her back and hold her tightly. Drawing back slowly, Arizona turned in Callie's arms and greeted, "Dr. Jeffers, it's good to see you again. Dr. Minnick, have you met my wife?" Arizona almost enjoyed the flash she saw in the other woman's eyes, she wasn't even sure what it was, anger, jealousy, embarrassment, it didn't matter. What she didn't enjoy was the look of uncertainty in her wife's eyes when she walked in and wanted to make it perfectly clear this woman meant nothing to her and her presence wasn't even a concern.
She looked up to Callie and revealed sweetly, "Honey, I'm sure you remember discussing this in our board meetings. Dr. Minnick was the person who was hired as the education director without any say from the board. For full disclosure, we dated for a month or so, but when she was fired for putting staff at risk, she disappeared without a word to anyone, including me. That's how important her time in Seattle was. All for the best, wouldn't you say Dr. Minnick?" Eliza looked at her ex…whatever she was, the one thing she regretted leaving in Seattle and feared seeing ever again because of the way she just disappeared without a trace. Arizona Robbins wasn't an easy person to get over and clearly she wasn't nice about being wronged. She was already nervous coming here because she was well aware of who Callie Torres was, not only because she truly looked up to her as a surgeon, but also because she was Arizona's ex-wife and didn't know if she knew anything about their relationship. But when they pulled into the lot and she saw the Robbins-Herman Center sign, she did a quick search on her phone and almost backed out of the visit when she realized Arizona had moved to New York and was apparently practicing right across the street. It made far more sense now that she knew they were remarried. When she noticed the tan hand splayed protectively over the clearly protruding baby bump, she looked at the two women again, looked to Dr. Jeffers and suggested, "I think it's best that we leave." Without another word, she walked out the door.
The other surgeon looked at his boss, gulped audibly, and offered, "Dr. Robbins…uh. Both Dr. Robbins-Torres', I am so sorry, I had no idea. She never mentioned she knew either of you or ever worked in Seattle. I never would have…I didn't mean to…" Callie held up her hand and said calmly, "Jeffers, it's okay, you are fine. No hard feelings. You had no idea; I fully believe that. I can't tell you what to do personally, but I will ask you to watch your back and be careful. I can tell you that I never want to see that woman's face near either of these facilities again and trust that you will share that with her." The other surgeon nodded his head and replied, "Understood and again, I am extremely sorry." Callie stepped away from Arizona though she made sure to take her hand so they didn't lose contact, extended her right hand to her employee and said again, "There are no hard feelings. We will see you in two weeks and are more than happy to have you back." The man took a deep breath, physically relaxed, and nodded his head in understanding. He then turned to leave and almost didn't want to get into the car with the woman he felt duped him into a tour, wondering if she knew she would see his boss or her wife.
Callie watched the man go and turned back to her wife to find tears in her eyes and the most terrified look on her face she can recall seeing in quite some time. Any jealousy or resentment she was feeling left her body entirely when she realized how scared her wife was of her reaction. Callie pulled her into her arms, buried her head in her chest and soothed, "It's okay baby, it's okay, we're okay. I'm not mad. Shhh, calm down." By this time Arizona was sobbing and holding onto Callie for dear life. Her reaction really had nothing to do with seeing Eliza again and everything to do with how Callie would react or what she would say once they were alone. This was the first time someone from her past, after the divorce, came into their new life and she had no idea what difficulties they would face because of it. They'd briefly talked about Carina, but she never mentioned Eliza and didn't know Callie even knew about her. In her mind, it hurt at the time, but it hurt more that she was left, so unimportant she didn't even warrant a goodbye. But seeing her today, the only thing that bothered her was the look in her wife's eyes.
Lorraine observed her two friends and for the first time since they'd been together realized what damage their past had done to them. She'd seen it firsthand with Callie for the past two years, but she'd never seen it with Arizona and had only seen the two of them happy together up to this point. Callie looked up to see her friend's concern and mouthed, 'We're okay,' then proceeded to the elevators to take her wife to her lab. Lorraine held her breath until they got on the elevators and said a little prayer, hoping like hell her friend was telling the truth.
XXXX
Once they were locked in her lab so they couldn't be disturbed, Callie took Arizona straight back to the sofa, laid down and pulled her wife on top of her. Running her hands through blonde hair, she waited for Arizona to settle down before she asked, "What has you so upset honey?" Arizona sniffled and replied, "You just, the look in your eyes, I never…you looked so angry and so scared at the same time and I…" She stopped mid-sentence as she started crying all over again. Callie rubbed her back and said quietly, "Baby, I know we were divorced, but I am always going to look at anyone who has seen you naked like I want to kill them." Arizona lifted her head and saw her wife's smirk and realized she really wasn't angry at her then replied, "But you looked so scared and…you just, Calliope, you have absolutely nothing to be afraid of. I swear to you. I will never…" Callie leaned forward, kissed her softly and corrected, "That's not what I was afraid of. I have absolutely no right to feel what I felt for a brief moment down there because I did this, I walked away, I started dating first and I moved across the country. But there was this fear…you never mentioned her, never talked about her. I only knew about her because Mer called me bitching about her and let it slip that you two…ya know. So, part of me was scared that you never mentioned her because it was too painful to talk about. That maybe seeing her would bring up these feelings of…" Arizona was the one to cut her wife off with a kiss this time and left no question about what feelings she had or who they were for.
Pulling back, Arizona suggested, "Or maybe I didn't mention her because it didn't mean anything to me or I was embarrassed that she ghosted me. The only thing I felt when I saw her was concern for you and how you felt." Callie closed her eyes, hoping she didn't regret this next question and asked, "Will you…um…will you tell me?" Arizona looked into her wife's eyes and asked, "Do you really want to know?" Callie shook her head no, but she responded, "I feel like I have to now that I've seen her." Arizona sighed, laid her head on Callie's chest and explained, "When she first got there, nobody liked her. We all rebelled. She was pushing Richard out of a job and that wasn't okay. She just kept hitting on me and I finally gave in and went out with her. For the record, she's the first person I dated or went out with since the whole custody thing." Callie closed her eyes, ran her fingers through Arizona's hair and mumbled, "I'm sorry." Arizona shook her head and continued, "She was okay, I mean, we got along, but I already knew there was nothing long-term happening there. It went on for about a month. When the explosion happened and Edwards almost died because of her screw up and she got fired, she just disappeared. She didn't answer my calls, I went to her apartment and it was empty, and that was the part that hurt. Not that SHE left but being left. Not being important enough for someone to stay for me or to even say goodbye."
Callie could hear the tremor in her wife's voice and had to ask, "So why the emotion now?" Arizona shook her head, she didn't want to say, she knew it would hurt her wife if she said and they had talked it all out already. Callie kissed the top of her head and cajoled, "Arizona, we promised." The blonde closed her eyes, bit her lip and admitted, "It brought back memories, feelings. It hurt me, not because she left, but because I was alone again." Callie wrapped her arms tighter around her wife and could feel the tears welling in her own eyes. She understood now why Arizona didn't want to answer her. At the same time, both of them said, "I'm sorry," making them giggle a little and breaking the tension. Callie asked, "What are you sorry for?" Arizona replied, "For saying that, for making you feel bad for doing something you needed to do, something we both needed you to do." Then she asked, "What are you sorry for?" Callie replied, "For making you feel so alone, for doing what I did the way I did. Both times I left." Arizona lifted her head, brushed their lips together and revealed, "Well, I'm not alone anymore and I will never be lonely again." Callie smiled and replied, "Neither of us are and not only do we have each other, but there's no way we can be lonely with four kids running around." Both of them laughed and held each other for a little while longer.
Thinking about their conversation, something from earlier popped into her head and Arizona popped up causing Callie to grunt at the sudden movement. Once they were both sitting, Arizona took Callie's hands and asked, "Guess what I learned today?" Callie smirked and replied, "That your wife is awesome and amazing and doesn't react like she used to?" Arizona laughed, leaned in for a quick kiss, and replied, "That too, but this is even better and it has to do with our three new additions." Callie tilted her head in question and Arizona asked, "You know how I had to adopt Sofia?" Callie furrowed her brow and asked, "How could I forget? Oh, did you start the paperwork? We should call Miguel!" Arizona shook her head and replied, "We don't have to." Callie jerked back and asked, "You don't…I can't…is this because of…" Arizona interrupted, "No honey, in New York, our marriage is legal and both of our names can go on their birth certificates. You are already their legal other parent." Callie stared at her wife in disbelief for a few minutes without saying a word.
Arizona started to worry her wife was going to faint again and just as she reached out for her, Callie whooped with excitement and kicked her feet up in the air and asked, "Seriously? Are you sure? Who told you? Did you double check?" Arizona laughed, "Seriously and I didn't have to double check because the person who got the bill passed herself told me." Callie's mega-watt smile was nearly blinding when she squealed, "Erin? Erin told you? She got the bill passed?" Arizona nodded and explained, "We were talking about how hard it was for me to leave you and Sof in the hospital and she said at least I could treat her. I explained the family rules then told her I got off on a technicality because I wasn't considered her parent until I adopted her. She told me at least we wouldn't have to worry about that this time because they voted to give same sex couples the same rights and your name will go on the birth certificate as the second parent." Callie let out a big bark of laughter, jumped to her feet and pulled Arizona with her dancing her across the floor as the two women celebrated this little victory.
XXXX
After they finally calmed down and decided to get to work, Callie laid out her plans for the original prototype, the second frame she planned to use rather than starting from scratch, some extra materials she had lying around to test, and pulled up a 3-D model of the finished product on the large monitor that was hanging from the ceiling. Arizona looked at everything in front of her and asked, "Where do we start?" Callie picked up all of the articles she printed off and complained, "Right now I'm having a block with the damn socket. I just can't figure out how to keep the structure sound without it rubbing against your abdomen when you walk or bend over." Arizona smiled remembering her realization from the day before and shared, "Ummm honey, maybe you're having a block because you already did that." Callie arched her brow in question and looked at her wife as if she were crazy. Arizona took her hand, rested it on her left thigh where her socket and leg met and asked, "What do you feel?" Callie scrunched up her nose and answered, "Nothing, but…Oh my God! I was thinking about the old prosthesis because that's what I've been researching. But why didn't you say anything?" Arizona laughed at herself and replied, "Because it didn't even occur to me until yesterday when I bent down to tie my shoes and thought, 'damn this would be so uncomfortable with that hard socket and all the Velcro'. I kept meaning to tell you and I guess I forgot." Callie widened her eyes and sarcastically asked, "Ya think?" making both women laugh.
Turning back to the leg, Arizona offered, "So generally speaking, you just need to manufacture this socket and figure out a way to make it universal so it fits any leg. Since you won't need the sensors in those, it could be more cost effective and the amputees could wear it longer during their pregnancy without needing constant adjustments since you made it to take weight loss and gain into account. The average pregnant woman may need one, two at the most depending upon how much weight they gain. For anyone carrying multiples, I really think switching legs to this one is a far better way to go." Callie chuckled and replied, "We haven't even made it yet." Arizona tilted her head and replied, "No, but in general, my balance is better, there is less stress on my other leg, and I don't think I have had a backache since I've started wearing it. All three things are a strain on any amputee, add a multiple pregnancy to the mix and it's far worse." Callie nodded in agreement and admitted, "Good point and something to add to my notes."
Arizona looked around and said, "Okay, now that the socket problem is mostly solved, "What's next?" Callie smiled and replied, "The most important part of the socket concern. We need to weigh you and measure your residual limb and figure out how much longer you can wear this socket comfortably without worrying about it losing pressure or the sensors not aligning properly with your nerve endings." Arizona chirped, "Well, let's get to it then." She hopped off the stool, removed her pants, took off her leg and laid it on the table. Callie stood frozen in place, her eyes trained on her wife's long sexy leg and the small patch of pink silk that covered her mound. Arizona noticed Callie wasn't moving, followed her gaze, rolled her eyes, then snapped her fingers in front of her and ordered, "The scale Dr. Robbins-Torres, we have a job to do. I have plans to have hot dirty sex with my wife tonight and you are wasting time." Callie crossed the room to get the scale and the measuring tape and sang, "Not helping."
When she returned with everything she needed, Callie helped Arizona onto the scale, recorded her weight, then measured her residual limb in various places and recorded those measurements as well. When she was finished, she handed Arizona her leg and directed, "Don't put your pants on quite yet, I want to run a few tests and check some things." Arizona looked at her skeptically and Callie added, "I mean, the sexy panties don't hurt, but seriously, I want to see if we need to make any modifications right away." Arizona nodded then climbed back onto the stool. Callie sat next to her so she could see her laptop, but also projected her screen onto the monitor so they both had a better view. She pulled up the measurements she based the prototype on and compared them side by side. Using her mouse, she highlighted the weight first and explained, "This is the weight recorded on your chart when I got my measurements and you were about 8 pounds under that when you got the leg. Which also means the measurements of your limb were a little off as well. Due to the fact that the socket is vacuum sealed, and we considered the average amount of weight loss and gain, the leg adjusted to your smaller size. Oddly, you are now measuring at the size the prosthetic was designed for, so no adjustments need to be made to the socket just yet unless you start feeling uncomfortable or unsafe.
Arizona looked at all the measurements on the screen and asked, "What about swelling? I know we can approximate my weight gain, but we can't really predict swelling with pregnancy or amputees." Callie rubbed her chin and admitted, "I didn't think about that, so we aren't just considering weight gain, but also swelling…in both legs and that can throw off your balance as well." Arizona nodded and added, "The more I'm on my feet, the more I'm going to swell." Callie continued, "And you're on your feet up to 60 hours a week. Hmmm." Arizona looked at the model on the table then removed her prosthetic again, looked inside the socket and asked, "You used the same technology in here as you used in the wrap right?" Callie replied, "I did. What are you thinking?" Arizona tilted her head and thought aloud, "If I can feel heat and cold with the sensors if you put something on my leg, is there a way to merge the technology from the wrap and allow me to cool or heat my limb without putting something on it? I mean I can turn the nerves on and off, can you make it so I can use the app to cool my leg off and reduce the swelling or pain? That way, if I can't sit down, take my leg off and put the wrap on, I could have the same effect while still doing what I need to do." Callie looked at her wife in amazement and was just a little jealous she didn't come up with that herself.
Smiling brightly, she admitted, "You know, I'm just minorly irritated I didn't have that idea first." Arizona laughed and replied, "I'm more than just a pretty face." Callie wiggled her eyebrows suggestively and purred, "Don't I know it." Arizona lifted her wife's chin to keep her gaze from drifting below her waist and scolded, "Focus Calliope." Callie playfully tried to move her face around and replied, "I'm focused." Arizona laughed and replied, "On my leg, not the part next to it." Callie pouted and responded, "But it's so pretty." Arizona shook her head and promised, "One more hour then we can go okay?" Callie knew this was important, leaned over and kissed her wife then declared, "We will stay here as long as we need to until we both feel comfortable that we have a plan in place for at least the first phase." Arizona breathed out a sigh of relief and replied, "Thank you." Callie took a pale hand in hers and shared, "Arizona, this is just as important to me as it is to you and I'm sorry if I am making you feel like it isn't. I'm being playful and flirty because I know this is stressful and scary and I'm trying to break the tension. But honey, I promise you, keeping you on your feet throughout your pregnancy is the most important thing to me right now, second only to the health of you and our babies." Arizona tugged on Callie's hand and pulled her into a tight hug whispering, "Thank you for saying that. I know it's important to you, it's just becoming overwhelming to me thinking of all the factors that are at play here."
Callie could feel Arizona's tension and rubbed her hand up and down her back. Sitting back, she tried to calm her wife's nerves by saying, "I know looking at all this stuff and thinking about everything can be hard to take at times, this is where the crossover from doctor to patient becomes frustrating. Right now, we are two surgeons, the best in our field, developing a plan for an amputee who is pregnant with triplets. While it is going to be hard, let's focus on the technical and bring in the personal only when it becomes necessary okay?" Arizona sat listening to Callie's words and realized she was doing the exact thing she was asking everyone else not to do and was focusing upon herself as a patient and not a doctor. Looking at her wife, she replied, "You're right, I needed to hear that. I guess I was doing the same thing I was asking all of you not to do." Callie smiled and asked, "It's not that easy is it?" Arizona chuckled and replied, "Shut up." Callie smiled and demanded, "Okay, we need to work, my wife is expecting hot dirty sex when I get home and I can't disappoint her." Arizona smirked and turned her focus back to the leg.
Looking at the leg and the parts on the table, Arizona saw the springs and other movable parts that made up the joints and asked, "I know this leg has springs and other things to absorb shock, but how would they withstand the weight shift and help with my balance while not causing too much strain on my leg or back which is going to get enough strain carrying three babies? Is there some lighter weight material that would work just as well and absorb the shock better or something you could add to the joints for extra support?" Callie looked around the room for a minute and smiled when she saw something standing in the corner that just might work and would actually enhance the leg for everyone, pregnant or not.
Getting up, she rushed to the other side of the room, picked up the object and laid it on the table in front of them. Arizona arched her brow and asked, "A running blade?" Seeing the twinkle in her wife's eye, Arizona picked it up, remembered how she felt when she was wearing hers, gasped, and laid a smacking kiss on Callie's lips. Pulling back she gushed, "My wife is a freaking genius! Are you going to use them for support or replace the springs all together?" Callie looked at the material, took it in her hands and replied, "I'm not sure yet. The width of the blade will allow for extra balance and we already know it will absorb the shock. I'm just trying to figure out how to incorporate them into the joints and still make the joints work like they should without overworking the blade so it doesn't snap." Arizona asked, "Do you have a piece of this metal that isn't already formed into a blade?" Callie nodded, looked around the table and pulled up a four inch long piece of scrap she'd saved.
Arizona eyed the piece of metal, turned it over in her hands, flexed it back and forth, then pulled the model of the leg closer to her. Putting down the scrap for a moment, she bent the knee joint of the leg back and forth, extending and bending it as far as it would go. She then picked up the scrap again and placed it over the knee joint. Finally seeing what her wife was thinking, Callie held the piece of scrap over the knee and flexed it while Arizona bent the leg back and forth. Looking up, Callie replied, "There's really no more wear and tear than there would be if it were used for running, less maybe." Arizona nodded and asked, "How stiff is it though? Will it move as easily as the current joints do?" Callie furrowed her brow and replied, "I don't know. I'm going to take this apart and try a few tests with it on Monday." Arizona nodded and responded, "Speaking of tests, do you really have to run tests on my leg or did you just want me to stay in my panties?" Callie laughed and replied, "I really do want to run a few tests and update the technology on your leg and your app." Arizona smiled and replied, "I'm all yours Dr. Robbins-Torres."
Callie smiled brightly, kissed her wife and replied, "Yes you are!" She then took Arizona through a series of tests, checking her balance, making sure each sensor still worked properly, the nerves were responding appropriately to the sensations, and checked her spine and right leg for any sign of shifting or weakness due to added strain from the prosthesis. When they were all finished and waiting for the program to update, Arizona asked, "So how long do you think we have until we will need to swap this leg out?" Callie did the math in her head and replied, "I'd say at the rate the babies are growing, we have another three to four weeks, but I am going to work on making the adjustments to the sensors that you asked and get them updated as soon as possible." Arizona nodded and asked, "Do you really think we will need to make that many adjustments to my leg?" Callie shook her head and replied, "I'm not sure. The socket was my biggest concern, it still is, balance is my next concern, I just don't know how to test that until we know how you are going to carry." Arizona pursed her lips and replied, "I'm not sure that's going to even be a thing with me, I'm going to be full of baby." Callie replied, "I really hope so. That would be ideal. But…here, look at this…this lady here is having triplets and she's carrying low and they are all just jutting out of her lower stomach." Arizona nodded and offered, "I've seen a few moms carry low like that, part of it depends on the mother's bone structure and frame, it's so arbitrary." Callie nodded and replied, "That's why I'm hesitant to answer, but I want to be prepared and have something ready just in case." Callie took the sensors off Arizona's leg, kissed her cheek and murmured, "You're all set."
Arizona hopped off the stool, pulled her pants on and helped Callie clean up. While they were cleaning up, Callie asked, "Have you given any more thought about Disney World?" Arizona replied, "I have actually. I had a few minutes before you texted me and did a little research." Callie laughed and declared, "Of course you did. What did you find out?" Arizona answered, "They have all kinds of Halloween activities in October and I know it's pretty short notice, but I was thinking the week after next." Callie looked at her phone and asked, "The second weekend in October?" Arizona nodded and replied, "Julie's baby shower is the weekend after that and Becca's baby shower is next weekend. Any later than that and I am worried it will be a little too hard. I think two weeks gives us plenty of time to get a plan together, make reservations, get tickets, find a dog sitter…" Callie asked, "How should we tell her?" Arizona smiled mischievously and replied, "We shouldn't." Callie gasped, "That's just mean!" She formed an evil grin of her own and added, "I love it." Arizona giggled at her wife, wrapped her arms around her neck, kissed her sweetly then whispered, "Take me home and fuck me Calliope." Callie bent her head so their lips were barely touching and murmured, "It would be my pleasure."
A/N: Be careful what you wish for Arizona…
Thank you all for the birthday wishes. I'm glad you liked your little gift. I had a great birthday, my two work besties decorated my classroom with all GA party favors and I got a print of Callie and Arizona kissing. Awesome day.
Also, I saw that some of you are not getting email alerts anymore on your favorite stories. I noticed the same thing for me. When I went into my account earlier to check something, I noticed something I don't remember seeing before and it was an option for email updates and said it automatically switches to 'no' after six months. Maybe it's always been there and I never noticed and my six months was up and it went back to default, or maybe it's new and reset to default for everyone.
Unfortunately, my goal of being Shonda by the time I turned 50 did not meet fruition, therefore, all credit goes to her.
