Chapter 9

Callie arrived home 2 hours later. As soon as she saw the car Arizona pressed play on tangled and handed Sofia biscuits and milk knowing her daughter would now be occupied for 90 minutes.

"Callie, can we talk?" Arizona asked, if they wanted this relationship to work, they needed to talk to say what they were thinking. She remembered the communication tools she'd gone over that morning and the faults in their last relationship, mostly caused by not communicating or speaking in anger.

"Fine talk" Callie sat, sulking, Arizona took a breath.

"The surgery, I have considered it, and I know why I should its ground-breaking, but I can't. Please Callie let me say it" Arizona stopped her ex-wife from interrupting. "I have had 9 surgeries in 3 years, it's a lot, I've had 8 months off work, I need to focus on Sofia, on my family, on my work, I can't spare another month off. And even if I could spare the time, I don't want to be confined to a wheelchair again, not for weeks. I can't be confined again" Arizona's voice broke as she fought back tears. Callie went to comfort her, but Arizona pulled away instead pacing up and down the kitchen.

"And if I did have it, then who would stay with me, who'd help get groceries, who'd help cook"

"I'm here" Callie said quietly,

"But you weren't you left me. Everyone left me, I have nobody, and I don't even know why you are here or how long you are staying" Arizona sobbed. Callie stood up hugging her wife.

"I'm here" She repeated, "I'm here, Sofia is here" Callie soothed.

"But you weren't. Nobody was" Arizona muttered.

"Your parents they could come over and help" Callie offered making Arizona cry harder. "Your parents are okay, aren't they?" Callie asked suspiciously. "Arizona?" she questioned concerned as Arizona didn't answer. Callie guided Arizona to a chair, kneeling in front of her, hands on Arizona's thighs. "Where are Barbara and Daniel?"

Callie kept quiet as Arizona stopped crying.

"Roseridge Home for Extended Care" Arizona muttered,

"Roseridge, where Adele went?" Callie questioned remembering the last time she had seen Arizona's parents they were fit, active loving people.

"Yeah"

"What happened?" Callie asked confused moving to sit next to Arizona on the couch. She placed her arm around her, Arizona leaning in accepting the comfort that Callie gave.

"My mom was diagnosed with dementia, about 12 months ago. Initially it was mild but it advanced quickly. Dad didn't want me to know, he knew we were going through stuff, my fellowship, the custody battle so he hid it. I tried to call them, nobody responded so I called the police asked them to check on them. They found my dad in bed, he'd had a stroke, he couldn't call for help and mom didn't know that she needed too." Arizona had started crying again.

"Why didn't you tell me? I could have helped?" Callie asked. Arizona laughed without meaning to.

"You were gone in New York; we weren't talking we were barely texting and the texts we did exchange were brutal" Arizona reminded her.

"Well, we weren't exchanging them" Callie reminded her. "It was Penny"

"Still, you weren't here, you weren't my person, nobody was my person, I was alone" Arizona cried. "What was I supposed to do? Ring up my ex-wife in New York who won't even let me see my own daughter and ask if I can cry on her shoulder."

"I would have been there?" Callie replied, and I know she would have been.

"I know that now, but not then"

"You could have called" Callie insisted, "I'd have been your person"

"I know,"

"I know why you didn't," Callie confessed, "I should have sent Sofia earlier, a part of me was relieved when you didn't want to see her or speak to her. I thought it would help her settle in better, I thought it would make it easier. Then I started to worry. That's why I sent her, didn't take no. I'm sorry I should have realised earlier."

"I should have pushed more I should have flown out insisted on seeing Sofia"

"You believed the texts, you believed i thought you were a bad mom" Callie sighed, putting her arm around her ex-wife as Arizona let out a sob,

"I was always scared i'd be a bad mom, be one of those mom's we all judge in Peds. Then i lost my leg and i knew i was going to always be judged as the disabled mom. Then you said in court I was a slut, a workaholic." Arizona paused sobbing to hard to talk.

"You are the best mom, Sofia adores you, she is so smart, kind and funny because of you. She loves you so much," Callie promised soothing Arizona by stroking her hair. "I never doubted for a second your commitment to our daughter, I'm sorry for what I let my lawyer say about you in court."

"I'm sorry too i should have tried harder to talk to you before getting a lawyer"

"We both made mistakes," Callie confessed, "So where does it leave us?"

"It leaves us here. We are talking, not shouting, we are listening, we aren't talking over each other. We are here with Sofia where we belong" Arizona decided. They could rake over old mistakes for weeks, and probably would revisit all the mistakes at some point. But she was tired of looking in the past, that was over.

"I want to take you on a date?" Callie said, "I want to spoil you to treat you, I want to make you smile"

"I'd love to go on a date with you Calliope" Arizona said glad the conversation had changed and moved away from her inadequacies.

"I'm here for you Arizona, I'm going to prove it too you" Callie promised. Arizona nodded wishing she could believe it. Growing up moving around she'd learnt early on you were on your own, a lesson that had been reinforced recently. Still, what she wanted more than anything was Callie and Sofia to be happy and to see her daughter. She'd never wanted to break up their marriage in the first place and now Callie was offering her the chance to work through Arizona was going to take that chance with both arms.

It wasn't the automatic quick fix that they wanted, in fact it took a year of therapy, both individual and couples, to get to the point where they'd truly forgiven each other and moved passed the hurt caused by both of them. Learning how to communicate and how to listen.

18 months later Arizona had the surgery to implant the sensors, trusting her ex wife to be there for her throughout her recovery. 10 months after that they welcomed their second child, a little girl Lexie Barbara Robbins Torres carried to term by Arizona, using Arizona's eggs and a Latina sperm donor.

3 years later they finally tied the knot again, getting married in a small ceremony, just Callie, Arizona, Meredith, Alex, Bailey and Richard. With the 2 girls as flower girls. It was small but perfect.