Chapter 48

"Whatcha thinking about?" Arizona asks, as they lounge on the couch, spending a nice quiet evening together.

"It's hard to believe that four months ago, we were sitting in a hospital room at Mayo, watching our daughter lay there, hooked up to a vent and how today, we are home in our own house, watching Katie bounce back to how she was doing pre-trial," Callie says, smiling.

While at Mayo, the treatments were resumed immediately after coming to the conclusion that the meds were not responsible for Katie's setback. They were able to get her off the vent quickly, and resume normal trial procedures. Twenty four hours on and then twenty four hours off… that was the schedule they followed for ten days, after which they moved her back to the local hospital.

"You know, I thought we would be seeing a lot more improvement by now if the trial was working though," Callie says, as she flips through the magazine in her hand, letting out a long sigh.

"Calliope, you know how these things work," Arizona says, shutting her medical journal. "She said some of her patients took a while longer for them to see results. Give it time."

"I know. I just, I guess I was hoping it would happen quicker, you know? That's all."

"I understand. I just never thought it would be an overnight thing. It's not going to happen like flipping a switch."

"I know. I guess I'm just getting impatient," Callie says, making a face.

"Me too. And… you know what else I'm getting impatient for?" Arizona asks, taking the magazine from Callie's hand and laying it on the coffee table next to Katie's monitor.

"Um… what's that?" Callie asks, smiling, as Arizona slides over a little closer, sliding her hand up Callie's thigh.

"I'm getting a little impatient about setting a date. Tell me again why we haven't done that yet?" Arizona asks as she scoots even closer, and moves to lay on top of Callie.

"Well, it's not like we have had a lot of time. I mean, we were at Mayo, then back at the hospital here, then getting her moved home and with therapy and nurses in and out all day… it's not like we've had a lot of time."

"Yeah… but things are settling down now," Arizona says, nuzzling her nose down into Callie's neck. "I mean, we are in a nice routine and have some free time since we are both living in the same home. Seems like there is nothing keeping us from setting a date," Arizona says as she leans over to kiss Callie's neck.

"Is this your idea of trying to persuade me?"

"Depends? Is this working or do I need to up my game?" Arizona asks, moving down to pull Callie's shirt up, kissing her stomach and causing Callie to giggle.

"Well, I mean… it might be working," Callie says, smiling."

XXXXXXX

"So, how are things going on the home front, since you are all moved in with Callie now?" Teddy asks, as Arizona sees the last patient out for the day.

"Oh, we are settling in. We have a routine and everything is good as far as Katie's healthcare. I am putting my house up for sale this weekend when the realtor comes to take pics and measurements. I had to leave some furniture so it doesn't look so empty but we need to figure out what to do with that after the fact. I might just include it in the house."

"You don't want any of it?"

"Nah. We really don't have room. Like I told her before, her stuff is an upgrade for me anyway," Arizona says laughing, then becoming more somber, she says, "She still won't set a date."

"For the wedding?"

"Yeah. I mean, I tried talking to her about it last night, and she still wouldn't answer. At first, I didn't even bring up setting a date, because everything was crazy getting Katie healthy again, or as healthy as she can be for now. But, I mean, Katie is stable now and on the right track, and when I have tried to ask, Calliope just kind of blows it off."

"She was the one who pushed for you to finally get moved in though, right?"

"Yeah. But now she just kind of seems content to leave things at that for now."

"Hm. Maybe she is just still worried about Katie. I don't know that I would worry too much about it. You guys have had more than your fair share of adjustments over the past several months. I mean, it's a lot."

"I know that. Believe me. I'm just ready to... make it all official. I"m ready for all of it, but she seems to be stalling," Arizona says, sighing.

"Just give her some time. You know she wants to get married, I mean, she asked you. So, just be patient."

"I know. I'm trying. I just figured she would be as anxious as I am to get married. Just doesn't seem to be the case."

Nodding her head, Teddy holds up a file and hands it to Arizona. "Again, give it time. Now, about this patient, the kid that came in this morning, Hayden, when do you want to do his surgery? I mean, your mornings are pretty full right now and if you continue to be home around noon, we are going to have to push it out to about a month to six weeksfrom now."

"Seriously? I'm that booked we can't squeeze it in any other time?"

"Arizona... I hate to be the one to point it out to you, but your half day schedule may have worked at first, but your patients are having to book well checks eight to ten weeks out just to leave time for emergent call ins. Scheduling a two hour surgery makes it really hard to figure out where to put it to get it scheduled immediately."

Arizona sighs once again, then sits in the chair beside Teddy. "I didn't really think when I changed my schedule, that it would be this long term. I figured it would be temporary."

"You decided to get back into surgery, but you have only had three since you made that decision. There isn't any way to keep up with patient demand and schedule surgeries. You need to maybe think about talking to Callie."

"Teddy, I have to be there in the afternoons. it is the only way that this works for both of us."

"No, it's just the only way it has worked until now. You could get a sitter or a home health nurse even, to come stay with her during the day. I mean, she has other therapists coming and going too, so it isn't like you get one on one time with her anyway. Katie is holding her own and back to making a little progress. I think it is time you get back to normal... or create a new normal. It's not like you guys ever really had a normal in your relationship, but, if you want to keep your carreer going in the right direction, you need to change things up a little. Working parents have to have babysitters, Arizona. Callie can't expect you to..."

"Hold it right there. She doesn't expect me to do anything. Everything I do is because I want to. Everything."

Holding her hands up, Teddy says, "Yeah, I know you do. But surely she has to realize that you are giving up a lot. I mean, your workload is only half of what it should be, at best. Financially, you would probably benefit coming back full time."

"I'm sure she knows exactly what I'm giving up, because she is doing the same thing," Arizona says, taking a deep breath. "I know I'm paying the bills but I'm not really putting anything back like I had been. I really wanted to have a nest egg. Now, I just kind of have an empty nest with no eggs at all."

Teddy starts laughing. "Yeah, and I know I could use the full forty hour week. I mean, I am taking a hit too and then there's poor Miranda. She was saying that she has to have some work done on her car and it is apparently going to cost more than she thought. We could all use more hours."

"I get it. You don't have to guilt trip me," Arizona says, inhaling a deep breath.

"I'm not trying to. I'm just telling you how it is."

"I'll talk to Callie. No promises, but I will talk to her."

XXXXXXX

"Arizona, I'm home..." Callie calls, entering the house and not seeing Arizona or Katie. "Hey, where are you?"

"We're in the bathroom!"

Smiling, Callie makes her way into the bathroom, to find that Arizona has just pulled Katie out of the new shower chair they just bought for her. "There's my girls."

"Yeah, we were trying to get her all snuggly warm before you came home so maybe we could have a movie night, weren't we, sweetie?" Arizona asks, making faces at Katie.

"Sounds good to me," Callie says, as she takes over duties so Arizona can go get dried off herself.

Later that night, after Katie is in bed, Arizona walks up behind Callie and puts her arms around her waist. "Hey pretty lady," she whispers, leaning in and lifting a hand to move the hair away from Callie's neck so she can place soft kisses.

"You really have a thing for my neck lately," Callie says, tilting her head to let Arizona continue what she is doing.

"I have a thing for everything about you, Calliope. I mean... everything. Your neck, your lips, the back of your knees, your thighs... your..."

"I think I know where you are going with that," Callie says, smiling. "And just so you know, I have a thing for everything about you too."

"Mmm, that's good to know," Arizona says, as she pulls away and leads Callie into their room and towards the bathroom.

"What are we doing?" Callie asks, already knowing the answer.

"Well, I thought we could come in here and take a nice bubble bath and just... talk."

"Talk? That's not where I thought you were going with that," Callie says, chuckling, as she watches Arizona take her top off and reach for the bathtub faucet.

"Well, yeah... I mean, among other things," Arizona says, wiggling her eye brows.

Continuing to get the bath ready, Callie pulls some towels out of the closet and places them close to the tub, lights some candles, then turns the lights off. "There... now I think we are ready," Callie says, watching Arizona nod as she goes ahead and takes her place in the tub first and then Callie follows.

Taking a few minutes for both of them to just enjoy the warm water and scent of the candles, Callie leans back into Arizona and smiles. "This is nice," Callie sighs in contentment.

"Very."

After a few more minutes, Callie tilts her head to look back towards Arizona. "So... what did you want to talk about?"

"Well... Teddy and I were talking this morning, and I um... I am starting to have things get backed up a little bit. And it's not a big deal at all," Callie rushes to say, "...but, it did get me thinking that maybe, possibly, um..."

"You want to go back to your regular hours?"

"Yes. Well, no. No, it's not that, but..."

"Arizona, it's ok. I mean, I get it. For months now you have only worked part time at what should be a full-time job. I get it."

"I haven't minded at all, not one bit. I have cut hours back because I wanted to. I love being here with Katie in the afternoons."

"Yeah, I know you do," Callie says. "It's one of the many things I absolutely love about you. Your willingness to do whatever we need you to do. And I get it Arizona, you need to get back to work."

"It's not that I don't want to be here. I will keep doing it if that's what I need to do."

"Arizona," Callie says, turning completely around to face Arizona. "When we came to the agreement we did... we had no idea that all this time later, we would still be doing it. But we will figure something out. To be honest, I had already been thinking about finding someone to watch her. With my practice, we are finally starting to get to where we can't cram everyone in, so I know... I know, that you have to be backed up. I wish you would have said something sooner though."

"I honestly didn't know how backed up we were getting until today, when Teddy started talking. Plus, her and Miranda have had to cut back and they could really stand to have their normal hours back."

"Tomorrow, we will start trying to find someone to come stay with her and both of us will transition back to full time. Ok?"

"Are you sure? Because we can do it gradually if you want. I mean, we don't have to rush."

"Arizona, I'm sure. I appreciate everything you have done, but we need to get you back to working, woman."

Laughing, Arizona leans in to give Callie a kiss. "Thank you for understanding. I just wasn't sure how you would feel about it."

"Nobody is a replacement good enough for us, but it's time. We need to find our groove and try our best to live as normal of a life as we can, given the circumstances."

Nodding, Arizona can see that Callie really is completely ok with the idea. Almost ready to bring up setting a date again, she decides to hold off. Maybe once they get back to a regular schedule, then Callie will be more willing to set a date.

"Whatcha thinking about now?" Callie asks, when Arizona doesn't say anything.

"Oh...nothing. Just admiring how beautiful you are," Arizona says, as she pushes some hair behind Callie's ear. She really wants to bring it up again, but is half afraid Callie will avoid answering her question once more.

"Mm, I don't believe you, but I'll let it go for now. Now... what else did you have in mind for this bath?" Callie asks, continuing to watch Arizona as she finally smiles.

"I had a few ideas," Arizona says, pulling Callie closer.