Widow Robbins

Chapter 6

By the time they'd crossed the street Callie was beginning to wonder if she'd made a mistake taking on the twins. The twins had been thrilled to see her and when they realized Callie was going to be babysitting them, their happiness seemed to triple. They were humming with excitement, bouncing up and down. They chattered almost non-stop and skipped and hopped as they walked along.

As they entered the building, both girls looked around in wonder.

"What's this?"

"It's where I live."

"This building is your house?" Cam's eyes widened in awe.

"No, I live in an apartment here."

"What's a 'partment?" Vivvy asked.

"It's, well, I'll show you when we get there," she said, trying hard to figure out how to explain it to the girls.

"We live in a house with Mommy. Grandpop and Grandmom have a house down the street."

A quick ride up in the elevator and then Callie was opening the door to her apartment. She was shocked to find Cristina sitting on the sofa, a box of cereal on the coffee table and surgery tapes playing on the television. Vivvy and Cam peeked around Callie to see her roommate.

"Cristina! What are you doing home? I thought you were at work."

"Webber sent me home."

"Hi!" Vivvy said.

"Who are you?" Cam asked.

"Who are you?" Cristina answered back.

"I'm Vivvy, and that's Cam, my sister," Vivvy said, pointing at Cam.

"We're twins," Cam explained.

Cristina rolled her eyes at Cam's words. It was obvious they were twins. They must be the Robbins twins that Hahn is always bitching about, Cristina thought. Good on them. Anything that annoys Hahn is okay by me, especially if it keeps me from being her target.

"Girls, this is Cristina. She lives with me."

"Do you share a room?" Vivvy asked. "Me and Cam do."

"We have bunkbeds. I sleep in the top," Cam said proudly. "Do you have a bunkbed in your room?"

Cristina snorted and Callie laughed. "No, we have our own rooms."

"We could have our own rooms but we like sharing," Vivvy said.

"Give it a few years," Cristina muttered.

"Are you a doctor like Dr. Callie?"

"And Mommy."

"Yes." Cristina hoped if she kept her answers short that the girls would lose interest in her and her videos. Go figure. I told Robbins I don't babysit but here are her kids in my apartment.

"Girls, I'm going to order pizza for dinner," Callie interrupted, saving Cristina from further interrogation from the twins. "What do you like?"

"Cheese!"

"Pepperoni!"

"Okay, I'll get one that's half pepperoni. Yang, your usual?"

"Yes."

Callie took out her phone and moved further into the kitchen to order the pizzas. The girls sat down on either side of Cristina.

"Are those Lucky Charms?" Cam asked, pointing at the box of cereal.

"Yes."

"We don't get Lucky Charms. We get Cheerios," Vivvy said.

"And Rice Krispies," Cam added.

"Where's your bowl?"

"I don't need a bowl."

"Do you put the milk in the box?" Vivvy asked curiously.

"No." Cristina put her hand into the box and brought out a handful of cereal.

"You eat outta the box?" Cam asked, impressed.

"We hafta eat our Cheerios in a bowl."

Both girls looked wistfully at the box of cereal, but were too well mannered to ask to have some.

"Are your hands clean?" Cristina asked before shoving another handful of cereal into her mouth.

"Yes. We washed before Dr. Callie brung us here."

Cristina held the box out so the twins could each get a handful of the forbidden cereal.

"This is yummy cereal!" Vivvy exclaimed.

"It's great."

"No, grrrrrreat is Frosted Flakes," Cristina said straight-faced in a lackluster Tony the Tiger impression.

"Huh?"

"Ask your mom someday."

Three sat quietly on the sofa munching on dry cereal, the girls with delighted smiles.

"Whatcha watching?" Cam asked, pointing at the TV.

"Surgery tapes."

"Cool!" Cam said. "Can we watch?"

"Mommy always turns them off and makes us watch cartoons," Vivvy explained.

"What's that?" Cam pointed at the screen.

"Is that a heart?" Vivvy asked.

"Yes."

"Mommy put a new heart in a baby," Cam bragged.

"Really?" Cristina asked, secretly impressed by the pediatric surgeon. Maybe it's worth sucking up to Robbins for a bit if it means getting in on peds cardio cases. A peds surgery is better than no surgery. "That's badass."

"What's badass?" Vivvy asked innocently.

"Hardcore."

"Huh?" Cam gave Cristina a confused look.

"Cool, tough, smart," Cristina tried to explain. "Badass."

The girls continued to pepper Cristina with questions, which she answered. They were enthralled with what they were watching and wanted to know everything about it. She was willing to answer anything they asked, but was getting irritated at the sheer number of questions. If this is what it's like dealing with peds, then Robbins can keep it.

Callie stopped pacing in the kitchen area as she disconnected her call to the pizza place and turned to face the other occupants of the room. Her eyes widened in horror at the scene in front of her. "Oh my God! Cristina! What the hell are you watching?"

"Ascending aortic arch repair."

"Turn that off! You can't let four-year-olds watch that!"

"We're almost five. We're not babies anymore," Cam pouted.

"Hell's a bad word. You have to say heck," commented Vivvy.

"Our birthday party is next week. You can come." Cam said to Cristina as she grabbed another handful of cereal.

Vivvy bounced in her seat in excitement. "You too, Dr. Callie!"

Cristina scowled at the thought of attending a children's birthday party and shuddered. "Sorry, short stuff. Can't. Gotta work."

Cam crossed her arms. "I didn't tell you what day it was."

"Doesn't matter. I work all of the days."

"Why aren't you working now?"

"I was already there. Got sent home so now I'm watching surgeries I should be doing," Cristina said as if it were the most obvious thing to do.

Callie walked around the couch and took the box of cereal. "Pizzas are ordered and should be here in an hour or less. No more sugary cereal." She grabbed the remote and turned off the TV, ignoring the protests from the other three. "Surgical tapes are not appropriate for children. We can play video games or watch something different."

"Games!" the girls said.

"I'm good with that," Cristina said with a shrug of her shoulders.

"But no Grand Theft Auto, Yang. Or Call of Duty," she added.

Cristina groaned loudly. "Why are you taking away all of my fun shit, Torres?"

Vivvy pointed at her. "Bad word!"

"Stuff. Fun stuff," she corrected.

"Do you have Mario Kart?" Vivvy asked. "We like that one."

"Yes, we do." Callie reached for the game.

"Yay. I get Yoshi!" Cam claimed.

"I want Princess Peach!"

"I get Mario. It's named after him so he's gotta be good," Callie stated with a wink at the twins.

"Bowser's my man. He's a badass mother…"

"CRISTINA! Watch your language!" Callie admonished with a hiss.

"Badass means cool," Cam stated matter of factly.

"And hardcore," piped up Vivvy from the other side of her.

Callie let out a heavy sigh. "Just please don't repeat that word, okay, girls?"

"You need to lighten up, Torres. It's not like you're trying to get in Robbins' pants or something," the younger resident said as she pressed start for their race. The TV started counting down.

"What's that mean? 'get in her pants'?" asked Vivvy as she focused on getting her pink convertible through the course.

"CRISTINA!" Callie yelled at her roommate, her cheeks pink in embarrassment. "That's not something you need to worry about, girls." She focused on the game and realized she was in last place. She punched the buttons on the controller and quickly managed to get ahead of Vivvy. Suddenly a red shell slammed into her car causing her to crash. "Crap! Where did that come from?"

"Yes! Got you!" Vivvy squealed in excitement as her pink convertible passed Callie's blue racer.

She had barely started again when her car was hit with a fireball. "Come on!"

"Geez, Cal, get it together. I just lapped you," laughed Yang.

Sure enough, Bowser and his ship/car flew past. "You guys are cheating," Callie whined.

"Not my fault you suck at this, " Cristina said with a shrug. With another lap and a few more complaints about the power-ups being used to attack each other, Yang threw her hands in the air in victory. Cam was a close second. Vivvy placed sixth and Callie an embarrassing eleventh out of twelve.

"At least I wasn't last," she griped bitterly. Just as they were about to start the second race, the doorbell rang. "That's the pizza. Let's eat first."

After picking at their pizza, another game was played. Unfortunately for Callie, the results were the same and she came in last. Cam won with Vivvy right behind her. Yang immediately demanded a rematch.

"Want to make it a perfect three-for-three in the loss column, Torres?"

"Bring it on, Yang."

The girls laughed at the banter between the two roommates. Minutes into the next game, a pager began to vibrate on the kitchen counter.

Callie paused the game with a "Sorry girls."

"Not mine," Cristina said, picking hers up from the coffee table and waving it.

"Damn," Callie cursed. "I mean, darn."

The twins giggled at Callie swearing, and then catching herself.

"You said another bad word," Vivvy pointed out once again.

"Yes, I did. I shouldn't have," she said as she picked up her pager. "I have to go. It's the ER."

"Wait. What about the munchkins?"

"I won't be long. And I'm sure Arizona will be done with her surgery soon."

"Torres."

"Please? It'll just be a little while."

"Fine, but you have to promise to talk to Hahn. I need to be in an OR."

"I will, I will," she agreed, grabbing her purse. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

Callie left the apartment in a rush. Cristina looked over at the twins.

"One more game?" she asked. They nodded in unison, which Cristina thought was borderline creepy. "Okay, one more game, but no fighting or I'll turn it off."

After finishing another game, the girls began to fidget.

"Can we do something else?"

"Um, I guess."

Cristina thought hard about what she could do to keep their attention. The last thing she wanted to do was be alone with a couple of whiny brats. Though if she were honest, they hadn't been brats. Not yet, anyway.

"How about we dance it out?"

"I love to dance," Vivvy said. "I didn't get to go to dance class today."

She began to dance around the room, trying to remember all the steps from the class the previous week.

"I don't like dance," Cam pouted.

"This is different. This is dancing it out."

"What's that?"

"I'll show you."

Cristina pushed the coffee table aside and plugged her IPOD and cranked up the volume. As soon as "Like A Virgin" began to play, she began dancing around.

"That's not dancing," Vivvy protested.

"No, we're dancing it out," Cristina said, hopping around.

"This is fun. Funner than dancing," Cam said, mimicking Cristina.

"C'mon, munchkin. Dance it out," Cristina encouraged.

After a few hesitant steps, Vivvy joined her sister and Cristina in dancing it out.

# # # # # # # # # #

Arizona stepped up to the sink beside Addison and began to scrub out. She was exhausted after back-to-back-to-back surgeries, but feeling oddly euphoric. What she had witnessed and assisted on in the OR had been incredible. The mother was on her way to recovery and the baby was still in the womb, thanks to Addison.

"That was amazing," she said.

"You could be doing those surgeries, too, if you'd consider a maternal-fetal fellowship." Addison wiped her hands on a clean towel. "Which, had you been out last night, we could've discussed, as planned," Addison gently chided her

Arizona blushed. "Well, family stuff… two little ones at home… you know how it is."

"Actually, I don't. What I do know is that you need to take better care of yourself, take some time for just you."

"You sound like my mother."

"Your mother sounds like a very smart woman," Addison smirked, tossing the towel into the hamper. "In all honesty, Arizona, a night out would do you some good."

"I know, I know," Arizona agreed.

"Callie seemed disappointed that you didn't come out to Joe's last night," Addison, a subtle sly tone in her voice.

"Oh? I didn't realize she'd be there until earlier today when she asked me where I was last night." Arizona's voice nearly squeaked with nervousness.

Addison decided not to press it any further. For now, she thought.

"Speaking of Callie, I was surprised you have her babysitting," she commented as they exited the scrub room.

"Why? It's only been a few hours. How bad can it be?"

Addison chuckled.

"It was an emergency. You know that."

"I do, I do. But do you realize her roommate is Cristina Yang?"

Both women rounded the corner and saw Callie. Panic filled Arizona as worst case scenarios filled her head.

"Callie! What are you doing here? Where are the girls?"

"Fucking Izzie Stevens," Callie muttered. "She paged me for a freaking ankle sprain!"

"Where are the girls?"

"Oh, they're back at my apartment."

"You left them ALONE? Callie - "

"Relax, Arizona. Yang is with them."

"Yang? As in Cristina Yang?" Arizona asked incredulously.

"Yeah. What's the big deal? When I left, the three of them were still playing Mario Kart."

"Cristina Yang," Arizona repeated. "Cristina Yang with my girls?"

Addison couldn't help but laugh. Arizona's expression was a mixture of shock and horror, and her own thoughts about Cristina being left with Arizona's daughters was just too funny. "I literally just told you Yang was her roommate."

"I'm telling you they're fine, Arizona," Callie persisted. "We all got along just fine. We had pizza and played Mario Kart. " She left out the part about the surgery tapes.

"I need to get my girls home," Arizona said. "But I've got post-ops to check and I need to change."

"I'll go get them," Callie offered, her hand on Arizona's arm. "That'll give you some time."

"Just bring them to my office," Arizona said, referring to her tiny office that she was convinced had once been a closet.

"I will,"

Shaking her head, Arizona headed for her patients.

"What?" Callie asked, seeing the broad smile on Addison's face.

"You left two small children in Yang's care? I'm with Arizona on this one."

"Whatever," Callie huffed as she marched down the hall.

# # # # # # # # # #

Callie could hear 'Baby Got Back' blasting from her apartment the minute she exited the elevator.

"Oh, God, now what?" she said, running to the apartment. She flung open the door to see Cristina, Vivvy and Cam "dancing" on the couches.

"Dr. Callie! You're back!" Vivvy shouted over the music, waving to her.

"Come dance it out with us, Dr. Callie!"

Even though Callie thought it was adorable to see Yang and the twins dancing it out, she was appalled at the music selection.

"Yang!" Callie's voice thundered as she crossed the room to turn off the music.

"What? We were having fun."

She wondered who had a bigger pout when the music was shut off - Cristina or the twins.

"This is not a song for five-year-olds," she hissed.

"It's just one song. It's not gonna scar them for life," Yang countered.

"Mmmm." Callie was skeptical but decided not to press Cristina. "Girls, get your backpacks. We're going back to the hospital."

"But we was having fun with Yang," Vivvy protested.

"Your mommy is done with surgery and she wants to take you home now."

The girls looked around the room for their backpacks. Once found, they quickly put them on with an assist from Callie.

"Bye, Yang!" Cam said.

"Thank you," Vivvy added politely. "We had fun."

"Later munchkins," Cristina said with a wave of her hand.

Minutes later the three were crossing the street, hand in hand, Vivvy to Callie's left and Cam to her right. They were not skipping and hopping this time as their "fun" at Dr. Callie's house had tired them out.

"Can we do this again, Dr. Callie?" Vivvy asked.

"Do what?"

"Go to your 'partment. We had fun!" Cam answered.

"I don't know. Maybe. It's up to your mommy."

"Maybe Mommy can come with us next time," Vivvy suggested.

"Yeah. She likes Mario Kart and she loves pizza."

"We'll see," Callie replied, not committing to anything. The thought of Arizona in her apartment gave her all kinds of weird feelings; feelings she couldn't quite identify.

Stepping into the elevator, the girls began to argue over who got to push the buttons.

"How about one of you pushes it now, and the other pushes it when you leave?" Callie suggested.

"I wanna do it first," Cam said as she jumped up and pressed the button.

"Then don't forget it's Vivvy's turn next," Callie reminded her.

Mercifully, the ride in the elevator was in silence. Out of the corner of her eye, Callie could see Cam sticking her tongue out at her sister. Vivvy retaliated by doing the same back at her. Cam then swatted at her sister, hitting her on the arm. Vivvy replied in kind.

Callie wasn't sure if she should say anything. Was it her place? She wasn't their mother, and she wasn't even their regular babysitter.

Deciding that Arizona wouldn't want her girls acting that way, Calie growled "Girls, enough. We don't hit."

Dr. Callie's voice sounded an awful lot like their Grandpop's voice, so the girls immediately stopped picking on one another.

"Dr. Callie's mad," Vivvy whispered to her sister. Cam nodded in agreement.

Callie bit her lip to keep from smiling at the two now remorseful girls. She'd have to remember to use that tone of voice on the interns. They often acted no better than the almost five-year-olds in front of her.

As soon as the elevator doors opened, the girls spotted their mother walking down the hall. They darted out, running to her.

"Mommy!"

"Hush. No yelling in the hospital," she said, hugging them both.

"Sorry," Vivvy said.

"Sorry," Cam repeated.

"Thank you, Callie, for taking them. I really appreciate it."

"No big deal. We had fun. Right, girls?"

"We did. We had sooo much fun."

"Were you good for Dr. Callie?"

"Yes, Mommy."

"We were the best," Cam bragged.

"They were," Callie confirmed for her.

"We had pizza."

"And played Mario Kart."

"And danced."

"Guess what, Mommy? Guess what?" Cam said, tugging on Arizona's arm.

"What?"

"Dr. Callie is coming to our birthday party," Vivvy said, a big dimpled grin on her face.

"Yang can't," Cam said.

Arizona's eyebrows shot up. "You asked Cristina Yang?"

"Yeah. She's fun."

"But she has to work," Vivvy said with a small frown on her face.

"That's too bad," Arizona commented. Her eyes twinkled with amusement as she looked at Callie. She couldn't imagine Cristina Yang at a party with twenty young children. She wondered if Callie knew what she was getting herself into by accepting.

"You don't have to come, Callie."

"No, I do. I want to. Just text me the details. If I'm not working, I'll be there."

"Okay, then. Girls, let's get home. It's almost bedtime."

"Bye, Dr. Callie!"

"Thank you, Dr. Callie!"

As they walked away, Callie heard Vivvy say, "Don't forget, it's my turn to push the button."

She laughed and waved at them, a longing look on her face. She felt envious of the little family. Her own childhood had been so different from the Robbins girls. It wasn't that she had a bad childhood; it had been actually pretty privileged. She'd wanted for nothing. The Robbins family had a warmth about them that had Callie Callie thinking there had been something lacking in her own.

As she watched the family walk away, her gaze drifted down Arizona's body. A brief thought crossed Callie's mind concerning how well Arizona's backside looked in the faded Levi's she wore. She shook her head quickly. Yang got in her head. That was all. She was straight and had no interest in Arizona Robbins romantically. She kept telling herself that as she turned to walk in the opposite direction, but she couldn't understand the void that settled in her chest whenever she said those words to herself.