Chapter 44

Standing in the doorway to akatie's room, watching her daughter sleep in her own bed, Callie is wiping the tears that are silently slipping down the sides of her face.

"Hey," Arizona says, pulling her robe tighter around her, as she makes her way to stand behind Callie, embracing her. Not saying anything, Callie leans her head back to lay against Arizona.

"It is an amazing feeling knowing we have our little girl home," Arizona whispers softly.

Nodding her head, Callie says, "Yeah, It's just indescribable, really." Turning her body to where she can see Katie and Arizona, she wraps her arm around the blonde's back.

"When I bought this house and set up her room, I had no idea if she would ever get to use it. To see her laying there now, it is just almost a little overwhelming, you know? In a good way, but still overwhelming. I had gotten to the point where I just never really thought this would happen. I mean, I hoped, but when the doctors started telling me I needed to consider all my options, I started to have doubts."

"I can't imagine how hard the must have been, to hear that. But look at her. I know she has a long road ahead of her still, but Calliope… look at her. She is laying there, oxygen free, breathing on her own. She is making sounds and moving her arms and hands, moving her feet. She is making so much progress. She is such a strong little girl and she has a such a strong mommy for a role model to look up to."

"Well, she has two strong mommies now," Callie says, leaning over to give Arizona a kiss on the cheek. "I can't imagine her not having you in her life, Arizona."

"I can't imagine not being here, Calliope. You two are my world." Sqeequing Callie's hand, Arizona pulls her into Katie's room, where they have an air mattress set up on the floor. Neither feeling comfortable enough to sleep in their room, Callie pulled out the mattress and Arizona set it up.

Getting Katie home wasn't as easy as either of them expected, but they pulled it off. Arizona ended up calling in a few favors from some nurses and the hospital transportation staff to help get everything situated. Several hours and several trips in and out of the house later, and they were all set.

Settling down onto the air mattress, Callie pulls Arizona closer to her. "So, when are you finally going to move your stuff in? Now that we know we are officially staying here and not moving across the country because of George, we can officially move in together."

"Well, I am going to call a realtor on Monday and talk to them. I have heard that sometimes they prefer you leave the house furnished so that people can visualize the space better. So, I will see what they say. If that's what they prefer, I'll just make sure I have all my clothes and necessitates for now. Besides, it isn't like we really need anything else. I have gradually bring bringing stuff like that over anyway, so we just need to make sure I have more than a drawer and maybe a little more closet space."

"Arizona, we can make room for anything you want to bring. I willl clear out my closet tomorrow and make sure you have plenty of room. As far as the rest of the furniture, just because my stuff is here, doesn't mean I can't get rid of some of my things. It doesn't all have to be your stuff that goes."

"I don't mind a totally fresh start, Calliope. I can actually just make the furniture part of a package price with the house. It's not a big deal, really."

"But," Callie starts to say, as Arizona covers her lips with a finger, then silences her with a kiss.

"Really, it's what I prefer. It's like I am getting an upgrade on all my stuff. I mean, I was fresh out of med school and on really tight budget when I bout most of it," Arizona says giggling. "So, it's like I'm trading up. And, I'm totally ok with it," Arizona says, pulling Callie in for a kiss."

XXXXXXX

The next morning, the girls are woken up by a soft noise coming from behind them. Callie rolls over to look at Katie, and sees soft brown eyes looking down at them, as she is moving her hand just enough for it to softly hit the blanket, causing just the slightest noise to wake them up.

Smiling at her little girl, Callie scoots away from Arizona, trying to not wake her, fut failing. An air mattress is hard to move on, and Arizona sits up, looking to see Callie sitting on the bed beside Katie.

"Hey," Callie says, leaning down to give Katie a kiss on the top of her head. "How is mommy's girl?"

The two women have noticed an increase in Katie's movements and interaction with them over the past week, much to their delight.

"She woke us up, mommy," Callie says, quietly smiling, as she watches Arizona absorb her words.

"How is that?" Arizona asks, as she moves to sit on the bed next to her girls.

"She was moving her hand and hitting the comforter. She was wanting our attention," Callie says, reaching to grab the little girl's hand.

"Is that right? Well, you have two mommies that will let you wake us up anytime," Arizona says, wiggling her nose at the little brunette.

Callie laughs and shakes her head. "You say that now, but just wait. Soon enough, you will ask why she can't sleep a little bit longer. Before she got sick, she was up early every morning, and let me tell you, I'm not a morning person and I struggle with those early mornings."

"Well, now you have me. And I don't mind them. So, I will get up with her and you can sleep in," Arizona says. Then after thinking for a second, she drops her voice to a whisper and says, "Since I plan on keeping you up really, really late, you will need all the sleep you can get, Calliope."

Blushing, then, shaking her head, Callie gets up and heads to the door. "Ok…. Before I get all hot and worked up thinking about that, I'm going to go fix us some breakfast. She is all yours for a little bit," Callie says, blowing them both a kiss and making her way out the door.

Arizona chuckles, as she turns her attention back to Katie, watching as Katie tries to grab ahold of her hand. Arizona holds it up and wiggles her fingers. "You are getting to be so strong. Look at you go," Arizona says, as Katie finally manages to get a hold of Arizona's hand. Arizona is for sure that bringing Katie home for a little bit is just what the doctor ordered.

XXXXXXX

"Oh my gosh. I am exhausted," Callie says, finally sitting down on the couch after putting Katie to bed. Sitting the monitor on the end table, she scoots closer to Arizona.

"I know. You wouldn't think spending the day at home could wear you out, but I think we tried to cram so much in, it just wore us all out," Arizona says, as she pulls Callie a little tighter to her.

After having breakfast, the two women got Katie dressed and managed to get her downstairs for another change of scenery. They drug out different toys to try to encourage Katie to reach for them. Arizona has been ordering quite a bit, in anticipation of this very occasion. She just hadn't wanted to let Callie know she had it on her mind, in case something happened and set Katie back. The last thing she wanted was a disappointed Callie on her hands. After playing all day, they settled in for a movie where Katie finally fell asleep.

"You know, I think since she is fast asleep, you and I should make our way upstairs and take advantage of a little alone time. We could run a hot bath, maybe throw in some bubbles, and just soak in there together. What do you think?" Callie asks, looking at Arizona hopefully.

"I think that sounds amazing. Why don't you go start the water and while you are doing that, I will grab us some juice. I don't want us drinking tonight, just in case she needs us," Arizona says.

"Sounds like a plan," Callie says, leaning over to give Arizona a kiss before standing up.

A few minutes later, Arizona walks into the bathroom to see Callie pulling her shirt up over her head.

"I see you are getting started without me," Arizona says, quickly sitting the juice down and moving to help Callie with her shirt.

"Well, I was hoping to already be naked when you got here, so I could help you get yours off quickly. I mean, there's no point in wasting any time," Callie says, raising her eyebrows.

"Oh, I like the way you think, Calliope."

As soon as Callie reaches for the bottom of Arizona's shirt, Arizona's phone beeps, signaling a new message. Arizona looks at the phone, but thinks better of getting it, and helps Callie pull her own shirt over her head.

"Aren't you going to get that?"

"No. Why would I, when you are naked in front of me?"

"It might be important," Callie says, leaning to kiss down Arizona's jaw line.

"Nothing is more important than this. And we know Katie is ok, so it can wait," Arizona says, as she pulls Callie closer to her, and unbuttoning the brunette's pants, then pushing them down the long, dark legs.

Taking a step back, Callie tries to catch her breath. "Just make sure sure it isn't important. We know that Katie's is fine, but just in case someone else isn't, I feel like you need to get that."

Taking in her words, Arizona nods and reaches for her phone that is on the counter. "Hm. It's Dr. Tanner…," Arizona says, opening the text, then skimming through the message.

"What is it?" Callie asks, as she watches Arizona.

"Um, they were just contacted by a researcher in Germany. They ran across Katie's case where they had been posting trying to get answers a while back. There is a treatment that they have been working on and it has shown positive results. They want us to come back to Mayo with Katie. This researcher even offered to come to Mayo and oversee the treatment herself. They sent us a link to research it more, and Dr. Tanner said to let her know what we decide."

"Wow. That's a lot to take in," Callie says, blowing out a breath of air.

Reaching down for their shirts, Arizona puts hers back on and hands Callie's hers as well. "Sorry, I just feel like we should be able to focus on this conversation. And… I can't do that when we are naked," Arizona says, smiling.

Nodding, Callie takes her shirt and pulls it back over her head. "I agree. So, what do you think?"

"I don't know. Let me text Dr. Tanner back, and then we can discuss it."

After the text is sent and the water is drained from the tub, the two make their way in to settle back against the headboard, and Callie reaches for her laptop that is sitting beside the bed, knowing they will want to go ahead and check out the research.

The two women spend some time looking up the researcher named Dr. Conrad. They discover she is actually a well known German researcher with incredible findings in her previous research and trials, and find out that the one they are wanting Katie for, has already had promising results.

"So, what's your opinion now?" Callie asks, moving the laptop to the night stand beside the bed, then turning to look at the blonde beside her, who is deep in thought.

"Well, I think the medicine itself has some promise. But I don't think I like the list of side effects that are possible. I mean, you are looking at a very low trial sample so far, and I'm not sure I feel comfortable putting Katie through something that doesn't have a set of known side effects. I mean, right now, they haven't had a lot, but that doesn't mean anything. I don't know that I want Katie to be a guinea pig."

"I get that. I don't either. But, if this has a chance of really helping her at a faster rate, then I think we should consider it," Callie says, watching Arizona's reaction. "I mean, yeah, what we are doing has been working well up to this point, but if the trial can help speed it up and get her back to normal, I think would consider it."

"I want her to make a quick recovery too. But trials like this don't always help. Sometimes they cause more problems," Arizona counters.

"Yeah, but we just read that, so far, they haven't really had any problems," Callie argues.

"I get that. I do. We just have to consider the patients that they have used, haven't been as severe as Katie has been. They might react differently. I just don't want to take any chances, Calliope. She has made such a remarkable recovery so far with what we have been doing, I hate to change what we know is working."

"You don't want to take chances, or you don't want someone else helping her to recover quicker?" As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Callie feels bad and she doesn't even really know where that thought came from. She sees the look of hurt cross Arizona's face, but it is too late to take them back.

Arizona shakes her head, then moves to stand up and makes her way off the bed. "This isn't about me wanting to be the hero, Calliope. This is me, making sure we make the best possible decision based on the very limited information we have. If I was sure there would be no side effects, I would sign on in a minute. But, we don't know that," Arizona says, as she makes her way over to grab a robe, and heads to the door.

"I'm sorry. I…," Callie starts to say something, but is then cut off by Arizona.

"Save it, Calliope. I'm going to go check on Katie, then I'm going to go downstairs and do a little more research. I would suggest you do the same.

Callie starts to move to get off the bed as well, when Arizona holds up a hand. "You need to do yours here."

Callie wants to convince Arizona to stay as she also makes her way off the bed. "Just stay, please. We can research together and discuss things together."

"No, I need to go downstairs before I say something that will make this worse right now."

"I'm sorry, Arizona. I know you will always do what you think is right for Katie. I'm sorry."

"Calliope, to even imply that I wouldn't do what was best for Katie because I don't want someone else getting the credit for helping her…. I don't even know why you would think that," Arizona says, shaking her head. "What I do know, is that you need to think about it and I need a few minutes. Alone." With that, Arizona makes her way down the hall to Katie's room. Once she is satisfied that everything is ok, she makes her way down to the living room, grabs her laptop out of her duffle bag by the door, then makes her way to the couch.

Taking a minute to gather her thoughts, she can't believe Callie would think that. That the thought would even cross her mind. Opening her laptop, she spends about an hour doing some more research when Callie comes in. When Arizona looks up, she can tell that Callie has been crying. She closes the laptop down, then puts it on the coffee table.

Callie watches as Arizona sits back on the couch, avoiding eye contact.

"I was way out of line to say that, Arizona. I… I don't even know why I said it. I know you would never keep her from something that would help her."

"I'm not sure either," Arizona deadpans.

"I am so sorry I said that. I know that you don't care who does it, as long as it happens. But, after researching a little more, there just aren't enough side effects that make it seem like a bad idea."

"Because they have only had fifteen patients, Calliope. Fifteen. We aren't talking about a trial that involves hundreds and there haven't been any side effects. Fifteen. That's it. That's nothing with as wide ranging in severity this disease can be. Katie is not your normal case."

"I hear you. But, fifteen is still fifteen with no known major side effects. I think it is worth a shot. If there were anything major, I have to believe at least one person so far would have experienced it."

"I don't, Callie. And I don't agree with that thought process. Not right now. There need to be more before we consider it."

The two women seem to be at an impasse and they both realize it. Shaking her head, Arizona stands up and walks closer to Callie. Sighing, Arizona closes her eyes and opens them back up, to see determined brown eyes looking back at her.

"As her doctor, I don't recommend doing this," Arizona states, causing a flick of something to flash across Callie's eyes. "And as her mom, my opinion doesn't change. I still don't think it is what she needs right now. I think it is a dangerous risk."

"I hear you. But, as her mother, it is my decision, and I want to do it," Callie says, causing nothing but silence to descend upon the room.