Chapter 37

"Callie, your last patient cancelled so you are free to go for the day," Addie says, walking into Callie's office.

"Great," Callie mumbles, rolling her eyes. "Of course I get done early today."

"What's wrong with you. You have been cranky all morning. I would have thought you would be glad to leave here early."

"It's nothing."

"Like hell it's nothing," Christina mumbles, hearing the conversation, as she walks in behind Addie. "You have been mumbling in Spanish all morning. You have never done that."

"She's right. Now spill…, " Addie says, expectantly.

Meredith walks in right as Addie says that. "Spill what?"

"We want to know why in the hell she is so grumpy today," Christina growls.

"It's not something I want to talk about," Callie says, standing up.

"Well, more reason to talk about it, if you ask me," Addie says.

Callie huffs and sits back down. She knows it would probably help her to work through some of it if she talked about it. That was part of her problem this past weekend. She didn't talk anything through and just reacted. "Fine. I proposed to Arizona and she said no. Happy now?" Callie crosses her arms and looks up at the ceiling, then back to the three women who are standing there.

Addie is the first one to speak, after the three stand there and look at each other, silently eyeballing the other to see who would have to lead the questions. "She said no? Seriously?" Addie asks, after the other two remain silent.

"Yep. Then she conveniently got paged for an emergency. Then, from where she has decided to go back to doing her own surgeries, she sent a text that she would be in the OR all night with the kid. She walked in just as I was walking out this morning. So, we haven't talked since."

"No, there has to be more to the story," Addie challenges, watching Callie start to fidget. "I mean, she is crazy about you. There is no way she would just say no, without a reason," Addie says, shaking her head.

"I agree. You are leaving something out," Christina says, giving Callie an incredulous look.

"Ugh," Callie mumbles.

"Spill," Meredith demands.

Sighing, Callie says, "I guess I should start with Saturday…," as she begins to hesitantly recap the past forty-eight hours.

When Callie finishes, the three women look at each other. "Ok, who is going to explain this one to her?" Addie asks.

"I got this," Christina says, looking at Meredith and Addie, holding her hands up. Looking over to Callie, she says, "Are you kidding me?"

"What?" Callie asks, exasperated. "I'm going to have to fight a worthless idiot for custody and on top of that, Arizona then said no! I'm staying for her and she said no! Well, I mean I'm staying for all three of us, but still. How is that not something to be upset over?"

"Ok, the custody issue I totally get being upset over. I would expect that. You'd be crazy if you weren't upset over that. But the proposal? I mean, really… She found the ring and you freaked. Then, you actually break up with her and say you are moving! She comes after you and you work things out, then after all that, you propose? You really thought that was a good time to ask?"

"Yes, because we just poured our hearts out to each other! I thought in the middle of heart-felt declarations was the perfect time to ask."

"No. Just no. Look, I'm sorry she was interrupted before she could explain why she was telling you no, but you are kind of an idiot on this one. I'm not a romantic person, but even I would have known not to ask right then," Christina says, shaking her head. "She said no because you both deserve to look back at the day you get engaged, and remember it for the good stuff. You don't want to look back and see it as the day you almost crushed her heart. When you ask her, you asking her should be the highlight of your day."

"She's right. I know hearing no for an answer and her rushing out kind of broke your heart a little bit, but Christina is right. It needed to have its own moment. It needs to be a wonderful memory later, not overshadowed by everything else. She wants to marry you Callie. Anybody can see that."

"It seems like I keep screwing things up."

"No, you just make impulsive decisions and don't think things through first. At times that is a good thing, but other times, it bites you in the ass," Addie offers.

Nodding, Callie sighs. "So, I already put a call in to my lawyer. He is going to start gathering information and be ready when we hear from George. I am supposed to go back and document everything to do with George and his relationship with Katie. So, I guess I will go back and change places with Arizona and start working on that."

"You want some company? We can come hang out with you," Addie offers.

"No, that's ok. I need to try to focus to make sure I get as much on paper as I can. It's hard to remember so much that you have tried to block out."

"Ok. But, call if you need anything. We are here for you, you know. Anytime. And... if you need help planning the perfect proposal, we are up for that challenge to. Because she will say yes the next time you ask."

"Right now, I think I just need to get past this weekend and back to normal first."

"Well, don't wait too long. She will think you have changed your mind."

XXXXXXX

"Hey," Callie says, reaching over to nudge Arizona's shoulder, walking her up. Arizona was sitting in a chair by Katie's bed, but had leaned over and had her head laying on Katie's bed, with her hand resting over Katie's. The site made Callie's heart melt a little bit. "You must be exhausted after being in surgery all night," she says, still trying to wake the blonde.

"Hmm?" Arizona mumbles, raising her head to see the brunette watching her.

"Sorry to have to wake you, but it's time for you to go. I'm a few minutes early, so maybe you can go grab something to eat before you go in."

"No, I'm fine. I don't really have an appetite today," Arizona says, looking over to see Katie is napping. "I can't believe I fell asleep on her. I'm sorry."

"Don't be. Looks like she was exhausted too."

Standing up, Arizona pulls Callie over by the window. "Look, about last night, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to be gone all night and not get a chance to explain. I wasn't saying no, I just..."

"It's ok, Arizona. As a matter of fact... just forget it happened. I take it back."

"What? You proposed! You can't just take it back," Arizona says, dumbfounded.

"Well, I do. I take it back. I get it. It was stupid of me to ask then."

"It was stupid to ask me to marry you?" Arizona scoffs, unsure where Callie is going with this.

"That's not what I said, Arizona. I said it was stupid of me to ask. And it was. With everything going on, it wasn't the best time to ask. I should have waited."

Arizona doesn't say anything, but has a look of uncertainty on her face as she considers what Callie just said. "You are really taking it back?"

"Yes. For now. And you said no anyway. So yeah, I take it back."

"I told you, I wasn't saying no."

"You're right. It was actually, "No, no, no…""

"Calliope. It wasn't a no, not like that anyway. I just…"

"I know. Like I said, I get it. You deserve something more romantic than me just blurting it out."

"Calliope, you deserve the world. This is more about you than me. I know your last marriage didn't work out for you. Personally I'm glad it didn't, or I wouldn't have you. But when we get engaged, we will get married and it will last forever. Our lives are far from perfect, but I want you to have everything, including a romantic proposal. I want it to be everything you deserve, not just a high on emotions moment. I'm sorry though about last night. I really didn't intend on being gone all night and leaving you hanging like that."

"I think I was more mad than upset. I mean, you had already said you would say yes, and then you didn't. So it wasn't like I was questioning whether you wanted to, but I was questioning why you said no. Does that make sense?"

"Yeah, it does. Calliope, I do want to marry you. More than you know. I know nothing will ever be absolutely perfect, but I want it as perfect as we can get it. You deserve that."

"So the next time I ask, you will say yes?" Callie asks, hopeful.

"Yes. I will say yes. I promise," Callie says, leaning over to give Callie a kiss. "I love you."

"I love you too."

"I'm glad. Did you talk to your lawyer?"

"Yeah,…" Callie goes on to explain what Marshall, her lawyer, told her earlier in the day. "…so, I'm going to make a list of when he started not spending time with her to how eventually he didn't at all. I will work on that this afternoon so Marshall has it."

"Ok. Well, I need to go. Her numbers are looking even better today. When I get back tonight, we are going to take that bipap off. I didn't want to do it without you earlier or I would have already done it. I wanted us both to be here."

"I'll be looking forward to it. Thank you for waiting on me. I can't wait. Hopefully she will be ok without it this time."

"Just think good thoughts," Arizona says, looking back at Katie.

XXXXXXX

Callie just finished her write up for the lawyer when Arizona walks in carrying a big bag. "Hey," she says, out of breath, sitting the bag down.

"Hey, you. What's all that?"

"I brought us dinner. I don't want us to leave after we take her mask off, so I made sure we don't have to. Teddy and Mandy helped me out. I texted them this morning and they made stuff and brought it in for me. So not only do we not have to go out, it's homemade. With Teddy's, I can't promise quality, but what Mandy made is always delicious."

"You amaze me. Everyday. You think of just about everything, always."

"I'm just trying to take care of my girls," Arizona says, leaning down to give Katie a kiss on the cheek, then turns to give Callie a kiss.

"I love how I'm the last one you kiss now," Callie says with a look Arizona can't place.

"What? I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to make you feel like you were second best here."

"No, that's not what I meant. Let me rephrase it. I love that I'm not the first one you always kiss. The fact that you love my daughter enough to make sure she knows it… that's the way to a mother's heart, you know? When you show Katie how important she is, it makes me fall in love with you more and more."

Arizona smiles, but shakes her head. "I'm sorry you haven't had good luck with her father showing her how special she is. But I don't ever intend for her to doubt how important she is to me and how much I love her."

"There you go again," Callie says, tearing up.

"Well, about we put this mushy stuff on hold and see about getting this mask off?"

"Sounds good," Callie says, giving Arizona a kiss.

The two women walk over to Katie, and Arizona reaches for the tablet and makes a few notes. Setting it back down, she walks over to Katie. She gently talks the little girl, waking her up. Once Katie is awake, she begins to explain they are going to take off the mask. Arizona makes a point not to do anything unless she explains it to Katie first, even if she doesn't fully understand what she is saying.

"So, here we go Katie," Arizona says, smiling, as to show the little brunette that there is nothing to he afraid of. Arizona pulls the mask off, as the two women watch to see how well Katie does with breathing on her own.