Disclaimer: I don't own Grey's Anatomy, I just borrowed the name of the characters for entertaining, no intention to violate any copyrights.
A/N : I am so sorry for the long wait. What can I say? Life is a bitch. Another reason for taking so long to update this chapter because this is a long ass one, a lot have happened and I don't want to cut it in half leaving a cliffhanger that we all hate ;-)
Hope you enjoy it, and sorry again for the mistakes.
Chapter 17
"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to witness the union of..." The minister voice echoed around the church, the ceremony began.
Callie couldn't take her eyes away from the woman at the altar. No, not the bride in the center, her loving gaze and sweet smile were directed to the maid of honor. Although everyone would say Teddy, being the bride, was the most beautiful woman in the room, but to Callie, no one could come close to her stunningly gorgeous girlfriend.
"The most important thing in life is to love someone. The second most important thing is to have someone love you. The third most important thing is to have the first two happen at the same time." As the minister continued with his speech, Arizona's crystal blue eyes locked on with the familiar brown in the sea of people. The soulful brown eyes that she fell in love with since the first time they met.
It had been 3 months since they had the talk about bringing children in their lives, and then the conversation stopped there. Not that they had changed their minds again, no. Just something more important that had occurred. Their best friend, the newly engaged Teddy couldn't wait to become Mrs. Burton. Long story short, the couple set to have a church wedding in May.
Undoubtedly, Arizona was Teddy's first choice of maid of honor. She needed her best friend, and the Type A character helping to put everything together in a short time. And Callie was supposed to be her bride's maid along with an old friend from the army, but Henry's sister wanted to be at the wedding too. Teddy couldn't say no to her future sister-in-law, and she didn't need a 3rd bride's maid...
To be honest, Callie didn't mind. She would rather be sitting down on the bench with Arizona's godson, little Joseph Burton, than being in the spot light at the altar. Not to mention that she could admire her beloved girlfriend in that elegant lilac bride's maid dress from afar.
"This is a union of two people founded upon mutual respect and affection.
Your lives will change, your responsibilities will increase, but your joy will be
multiplied if you are sincere and earnest with your pledge to one another." The minister turned to Henry. "Henry, will you take this woman to be your wedded wife, to love her, comfort her..."
As the groom and bride exchanging their vows, all attention was on them except for one.
"I am ready, Mark." Callie whispered to the man sitting next to her.
"Ready for what?" Mark glanced at the 4 months old baby Joey sitting on the brunette's laps. "You and blondie are finally going to make one of these?"
"No that, Mark." Callie frowned and jerked her head toward to the front of the church. "The other thing."
"Oh..." Mark's eyebrows raised up high in surprise. "Really?"
"Really." The brunette smiled, and her gaze drifted back to the woman who had captured her heart. If she was right - she hoped that she was right, the smile that Arizona gave her right while the minister talked about the union of two people telling her that they were sharing the same thought. "I've been thinking about it for a while. I'm going to ask her to marry me."
"Now?" Mark's lips spread to a mischievous smile. "Are you going to stand up and pop the question? That's romantic and I'm sure blondie would love it."
"She'd hate it." Callie chuckled lightly. Interrupting a wedding ceremony to propose to her girlfriend? That's insane.
"Oh, you want to do the grand gesture." The man leaned closer to whisper into Callie's ear. Not just because they were in the middle of the bride saying her vow, he needed this to be out of the earshot of his own girlfriend, who happened to carrying his child without the wedlock yet. "It's the opening pitch of your marriage. It can determine the entire game. You gotta go all out, Torres. What's better than propose to her in the middle of a wedding?"
"Grand gesture, huh?" The brunette smirked teasingly. "Is that why you still haven't asked little Grey yet?"
"I'm cooking it." Mark shushed his friend quickly. "She's a big romantic and I know that she's expecting something big. You worry about yours, I worry about mine."
"Say for yourself, I am not worried." A big grin on Callie's face as she looked from her girlfriend to the groom and bride sharing their first kiss as married couple. She really wasn't worry at all. And she couldn't wait to take that next step with the person she loved so deeply.
The wedding continued in a venue not so far away. The couple chose to have an afternoon reception because they wanted to have their son there for the big day, despite that the little baby had no idea what was happening around him. For all he knew, there were a lot of people talking to him, kissing him, pinching his face... It was confusing, but as long as he was kept safely in his godmother's arms, he wouldn't mind to smile with those strangers and enjoy all the attention that he got.
"Arizona, you don't have to hold him the whole afternoon." Teddy joined in with the group of people surrounding her maid of honor. Well, actually those people were adoring the adorable little boy that she was holding. Little Joey jumped in Teddy's arms as soon as his mother was in sight. "We have enough friends here to take care of him."
"I don't mind." Arizona smiled to her friend as she ruffled Joseph's little blonde head.
"Okay, if you excuse us," the bride turned to the guests of her wedding, "It's time for this little man to have his meal. Do you want a bottle, Joey?"
The 4 months old baby didn't know a lot of words yet, but apparently 'bottle' was a trigger. He flung his little arms and legs with excitement, earning a round of laugher from the aunties and uncles around him. Carefully not to trip over the hem of her wedding dress, Teddy carried her son toward the back of the ballroom where there was a small room for the bride.
To her surprise, her maid of honor was walking along with her.
"You know, your duty doesn't include babysitting my son the whole day." Teddy smirked at her friend before looking back over her shoulder to the crowd of guests. "Why are you avoiding Callie?"
"I'm not avoiding Callie." The blonde was flushing and looking kinda uncomfortable. She thought that she was discreet, but apparently she wasn't. Smiling awkwardly, she asked. "Why would you say that?
"I'm busy but I've kept my eyes on my son. I could see that you've never put him down or handed him over to anyone else." Teddy stepped into the room after her maid of honor opened the door for her. She didn't need to look at her friend to know the blonde was hiding something. "I know you, Arizona. You know very well that as long as you have Joey, you two would attract people and there wouldn't be any alone time for you and Callie. What is going on between you two?"
"Callie's watching me sleep." Arizona heaved a sigh as she leaned against the now closed door, casting a wry glance in her friend's direction.
"What?" The bride swiveled her head to look at her friend half way putting her son on the makeshift changing table. She heard what the blonde said, but she just didn't get what was the problem.
"She's watching me sleep. She only watches me sleep when something is up." The blonde looked a bit flustered as she explained to Teddy. "And today she looks at me with this strange light in her eyes when she was holding Joey... I'm afraid that she's gonna start talking about making babies."
"Arizona, you have changed your mind again?" Teddy sighed with her shoulders slumped. Shaking her head in disapproval, she started to undress the baby for diaper change. "You can't do that to that poor woman. She loves you..."
"I love her too. And no, I haven't changed my mind. I want to have children with Callie, I really do. I'm… I'm open to, honestly, just not right now, you know?" Arizona went to the diaper bag getting a clean one for the mother, and then sat down on the chair on the other side of the room. "Don't you think we deserve a little more time to plan and to think it through?"
"You said not right now, then when?" Teddy asked without looking at the blonde. And Arizona answered with a question.
"When's the best time to have kids?"
"The best time to have kids ... is never." The mother hovered over her baby as her hands busy changing out the dirty diaper. She said in a singing voice as if she was baby talking to the little boy. "They cry all the time, nonstop. They poop all the time. They never sleep. And they take everything you've got. All your time, all your focus, all your patience, all your sleep, everything till you got nothing left for you."
Unaware of the complaints were addressed to him, Joseph responded with a few laughers and gesticulating his arms with excitement. Arizona watched the interaction between mother and son with a grin but she just couldn't really grasp the meaning behind Teddy's words.
"You sound like... are you regretting of having Joey?"
"Of course not. The day he was born was the joyous day of my life. And the first time he smiled at me because he heard my voice... It's the pride I felt, the irrational, unbridled, joy..." Still talking in her baby voice, the mother finally looked to the confused blonde after she was done with the diaper. "Well, it is as good as the first time Henry told me that he loves me."
"But you said the best time to have kids is never..." The blonde brightened up a bit, but looked still slightly suspicious. And her friend chuckled and beamed at her.
"If you're waiting for the perfect time to have kids, you're never going to have kids." Leaning against the changing table with one hand on her hip, Teddy looked down at her son with a fondest smile. "Henry and I didn't plan to have Joey, but it was a nice surprise."
"Easy for you to say, you have a baby with a man. You do know how much work it is for a lesbian couple to make a baby." The blonde buried her hands in her hair and huffed. "We don't do surprise. We do planning."
"Then make a plan." Teddy raised her eyebrows challenging her friend.
"But it makes it real once we really start talking about it. I don't want to pop the pretty pink bubble that we've been floating in." Dropping her hands, Arizona lifted her face pursing her lips to a pout. "Our bubble is so pink and pretty.
"You want to pop the bubble, believe me. Once you hold your baby in your arms, you'd regret that you didn't do it sooner." Teddy smiled softly. She knew her best friend. Old habit die hard, the blonde was over thinking it again. "You were so great with Joey, and Oscar, remember? Don't tell me that you don't miss the smile that he gave you whenever you were around him."
Talking about Oscar brought a sad smile on Arizona's face. She did miss that sweet little boy.
"I've asked Janet about Oscar. The foster parents still haven't given us instruction where to send the medical records yet."
"It's probably a good sign, don't you think?" Taking Joseph in her arms, Teddy walked toward the troubling blonde as her hand rubbing soft circles behind her son's back. "No news is good news. They don't need the medical records means Oscar is doing great."
"I hope so." Arizona got up from the chair and reached for her godson. Talking about the boy once in her care made her craving for some baby time. But Teddy denied her by swiveling away.
"Nuh-uh, I'm cutting you off." The mother held up a finger wiggling it in front of Arizona's face as she walked farther away from the pouting blonde. "You're not using my son as a shield any more. I'll ask Henry's sister to take care of him for the rest of the day. You go talk to Callie. Go make plan. Get yourself your own baby."
"You're getting mean ever since you became a mother." Arizona turned to leave the room, not before she stuck her tongue out to a grimace toward her best friend.
"This is call parenting." Teddy called after the blonde before the door shut close. "You'll learn to act the same some day."
"Excuse me, can I have a beer please?" Mark leaned against the counter top asking the bartender, and he turned to his friend. "A beer for you too?"
"It's barely 3 in the afternoon, Mark. Isn't it too early for beer?" Callie frowned at the tall man.
"Hey, it's 5pm somewhere." Ignoring the brunette, Mark gave the man who served the drinks a grin and held up 2 fingers. "Besides, don't you gonna need some liquid courage?"
"Why do you need liquid courage, Torres?" Derek came to the open bar getting a refill of his tonic water, in time to catch a part of the conversation between two friends. He smirked at the woman who was known of her stage fright. "Are you going to give a speech to the bride and groom?"
"Torres is going to propose." Mark answered before Callie could even open her mouth. The brunette stared at the man with mouth agape, not believing that he just burst it out like this.
"It's about time. Congratulations." Chief Shepherd clink his glass with Callie's beer with a sincere smile. "Are you going to ask Robbins now? In here?"
"I'm not sure. Mark said that it should be a grand gesture." Callie scrunched up her nose. She really didn't know what to do, but she did know one thing for sure was that an advice from a married man could be much more helpful than the man child who was throwing stupid ideas to her the whole afternoon. "How did you propose to Meredith?"
"I collected the X-ray films of the cases that we've worked together, plastering them all over the walls of the elevator, reminding her that how good we are together." Derek said proudly. Generally he wasn't a romantic person, it took a big effort to pull that proposal together but it was totally worth it. It was a big success that brought tears into Meredith's eyes and said yes to him.
"Wow... I don't think I can beat that." Callie blinked up at her boss in some surprise. This was the side of Derek Shepherd that she had never known.
"It's not a competition, Torres. You should do what feels right, for you and Robbins." The chief took a sip of his drink and added. "But I do have an advice for you, timing is important."
"What do you mean?" The brunette had a firm little frown between her brows as she asked the man.
"I went through all the trouble with that proposal because Meredith turned me down twice." Derek shrugged carelessly, and he laughed out when his audiences stared at him with their jaws dropped.
"She turned you down?" Callie exclaimed, and got a few curious glances from the people around them. The brunette lowered her voice and asked again. "Why? I thought the two of you were a sure thing."
"We were. We are." Derek smiled sheepishly. "The first time I proposed to her was right after we had a fight. She thought I asked her to marry me just to make her stopped being mad."
"See? I can't ask Arizona right in the middle of her best friend's wedding. She'd think that I just caught up by the romantic atmosphere." The frustrated brunette slapped Mark's chest with the back of her hand and made him spilling the beer to his expensive suit.
"Well, you do." Mark cast a glance at Callie as he looked down to wipe the drink off of him. Both he and Callie were oblivious of someone who was slowly approaching them.
"No, I told you, I've been thinking about this for days. I just don't know how to bring it up. I just don't know how to ask Arizona to..." Callie exclaimed in a whisper, but she was cut off when Derek shushed her subtly. Following the chief's glance to turn around, her heart nearly jumped out of her chest when she saw that who was standing behind her.
"Ask me what?" Arizona said as she looked between the two men and her girlfriend curiously. She might have a hunch what was in Callie's mind, but she wasn't sure that the brunette would share such a personal matter with Mark Sloan, the man that she didn't get alone with, and, well, their boss.
"Hmmm...? I... I..." The brunette would feel the blood draining from her face, and her brain couldn't work fast enough. She turned to the two men for help. "What was I saying?"
"Well, I better go to my wife." Derek raised his glass to the brunette before turning around to leave the group. Although Chief Shepherd cared about his staffs, he rather not got involved in their personal business.
To the contrary, Mark Sloan held no such boundary.
"Torres has a very important question for you." Mark threw the blonde a wink matching with his trademark smirk, made both women stared at him with bugged eyes for totally different reasons.
"Mark!" Callie grunted under her breath. She thought that the man would come up with a stupid cover up for her, not throwing her under the bus.
"No time likes the present, Torres. Go for it." Still holding the smirk on his face, Mark leaned closer to the brunette and whispered aloud. It made the panicky woman even more terrified. Took a look at the usually soft and lovingly blue eyes which were now squinting at her full of suspicion, Callie stammered out with a small voice.
"I... I... have a question... to ask you..."
"Oh god..." Seeing the tense anxiety on her girlfriend's face, the blonde murmured under her breath. It was happening.
"I mean... I... I... want to ask you... I... I know the timing isn't right and if you don't..." Callie's already shaky resolve was stirred from the blonde's reaction. Lucky for her, her wingman wouldn't let her given up.
"You're doing great. Push it through." Mark gave Callie's beer holding hand a little nudge. He was right, the brunette did need a bit of liquid courage. Taking a big gulp of beer, Callie started her verbal diarrhea once again with a little more confidence.
"Arizona, I love you. I love you so, so much and I want to have a future with you. I... I know right that now might not be a good time to ask you this. And Derek told me that timing is important and I should... Mark said that it should be a grand gesture but..." Callie cast a quick glance at Mark, which wasn't unnoticed by the blonde who was already displeasure with the man still standing there with them.
"So you've talked to Sloan." If a look could kill, the stare that Arizona was throwing at Mark would have him drop dead on the floor.
As much as he loved to tease the woman who wasn't a big fan of him, and wanted to see how this play out, Mark Sloan knew very well that when the blonde pulled out the dragger, it was his cue of fleeing the scene.
"Oh, Lexie is asking for me." Mark waved his hand and made a beeline to his girlfriend who wasn't even looking at him, leaving the two women continued with their awkward conversation.
"Calliope Torres, you discussed this with Sloan?" Arizona redirected her glare to the brunette after the annoying man walked away. The cool stare made Callie stiffened in momentary panic and she picked up the blonde's hands instinctively.
"No, it wasn't a discussion. I... I've talked to him..." Callie said hurriedly. "No, more like I was telling him that I am going to ask you to marry me."
"That is?" Arizona gazed at the woman in front of her blankly. This wasn't the question that she was expected.
"What... that is?" Callie was holding her breath, bemused by the strange reaction that she got from her girlfriend. This, wasn't what she had expected.
"You're just going to ask me to marry you?" A small smile of relief slowly pulled up on Arizona's pink lips. Surprised and delighted that this wasn't about babies, she had completely missed the true meaning of Callie's question.
"I'm not just going to ask you to marry me, Arizona Robbins." Callie tugged their linked hands with a little frustration. "I'm asking you to marry me. I love you and I want you to be my wife."
"Oh... Oh!" Arizona was struck by the sudden realization that her girlfriend was proposing to her. The small smile on her face spread to wide grin making the pair of dimples popped. "Calliope, we're practically living a married live. We've talked about spending the rest of our lives together. We even talked about having children together."
"Yeah...?" A matching smile on Callie face as she was waiting for the answer from the blonde. That smile got even bigger when Arizona grabbed her by the neck and locked their lips together.
"My god, I thought that you're going to talk about making babies right now." Arizona laughed out softly after ending the kiss, forehead against forehead as she looked deep into the loving brown eyes.
"Well, that would be our next step but there is no rush." Callie stole another peck before pulling back slightly. "And you still haven't really answered my question."
"You really need an answer?" The blonde tilted her head and a mischievous look crosses her face. She loved teasing her girlfriend. "Do you think that I'd say no?"
"I don't know." The brunette scratched the back of her head and gave a small timid smile. Of course she knew Arizona loved her, and of course she remembered that they had talked about spending their lives together, but nothing was certain. "Derek told me that Meredith turned him down twice."
"Meredith?" Arizona was surprised, and even more surprised when she saw the said person was walking toward them in a fast pace.
"Have anyone of you carried a phone? Alex's been calling you two and none of you answered the calls." The wife of their chief exclaimed in dismay as she approached the couple, and she handed over her own cellphone to Callie. "Here."
"Hey Karev, what's up?" Callie threw an apologetic smile toward Meredith while answering the call. Both hers and Arizona's phones were in the pocket of her jacket since they were not expecting any call, especially not the one from work today.
"Torres, you need to come back to the hospital right now." Hearing the voice of the attending, the resident wasn't even bothered with the pleasantry. "Get Robbins too. It's Oscar."
The venue was over 40 minutes away from the hospital but Arizona managed to get there under half an hour with the luck of not stopping by the police. As soon as the car parked at the ambulance bay, both she and Callie jumped out instantly and the brunette ordered the nearest nameless intern to take care of it. She didn't care who he was and how he would handle the car, she just had one thing in her mind. So did Arizona, as they ran into the emergency room.
The blonde was the first to rush into trauma room 1. She gasped aloud seeing a lifeless little body lying on the stretcher with a temporary splint on the right arm, a tube to his throat and wires connecting to the machine around them. As she came closer, she had to cover her mouth holding back a sob. Yes, this was Oscar, but yet, this wasn't the Oscar that had left 3 months ago.
The inviting chubby cheeks that everyone loved to pinch and kiss were gone. One of the sunken cheeks was swollen with an angry handprint. The once shiny and fluffy golden lock was now dull and greasy from seemingly lack of cleaning, plastered on the little head hiding a fainted bruise on the forehead.
And the worst was yet to come.
"I gave him a minor sedative to calm him down." Alex said to his boss as he reentered the trauma room with some X-ray films in his hand. He handed them to the Ortho surgeon before approaching the stretcher. "He was crying himself into hyperventilation due to the pain."
In the years of her career, Arizona had seen a lot of beaten bodies. Sometimes kids came to the hospital for small problems and sometimes they were brought to her table due to tragic accidents. Those bodies could be bloody, broken, misshapen... She had seen a lot. But nothing could compare to the shock she felt when Alex removed the gown covering the small body, revealing the colorful bruises, purple, green, blue, fainted yellow bruises all over the torso of the 1 year old boy.
"He... was he in an accident?" Arizona asked, even though deep down, she knew that those old and new bruises were not formed at the same time.
"No, he wasn't." Callie clenched her jaws as she reviewing the films that Alex just handed over to her. Quickly, the blonde strode toward her girlfriend and the both of them checking the films one by one in silence. They were doctors, they knew what they saw on the films. And when they went to the last one, which was the X-ray of the right arm, Callie found herself shaking with anger and muffling under her breath. "Someone broke his arm."
Arizona turned her face looking at Callie with bulging eyes. She wasn't an expert in bones, all she saw was the ulna was broken in two places and a hairline fracture on the radius. But the Ortho surgeon knew bones. With one look on the film, she knew it was made by the hand of someone.
"Who brought him in?" Callie cast a hard stare at the resident. The angry glare wasn't meant for him and Alex knew it very well.
"The foster father. The police are questioning him in the waiting room." The resident gestured outside before updating the chart.
"They live about an hour away, why would he take Oscar to here?" The blonde pulled up a stool to sit next to the stretcher. She reached out a hand to stroke the little blonde head, and her heart was broken into pieces seeing that even kept under sedation, the little body jerked when a hand was placed on his head.
"The man said something about knowing this hospital would take care of him for free." Alex sniffed without taking his eyes off of the chart. His blood was still boiling thinking back the contemptible look on that man's face while he handed over the crying baby to the nurse. He didn't need to look to know that both women were once again in shock hearing that.
"Unbelievable! I bet he is the one doing it. I'm gonna kill him." The hotheaded brunette threw the X-ray films on the table with force and about to storm out of the room, but her girlfriend called after her.
"Callie, don't! Let the police do their job." Arizona pleaded, and the red rims around the blue eyes had successfully kept the brunette stay by her side. She turned to Alex and asked. "Did the foster say what had happened to Oscar? And has anyone called Janet yet?"
"He said Oscar was running in the house and fell down the stairs. But when Carlson saw the broken arm and bruises, he told the nurse to call the police and the social worker." Alex raised his hand to check the time. "It was about an hour ago."
"Unbelievable..." Callie shook her head, and leaned closer to her girlfriend, who was still gently stroking the little blonde head trying to give him some comfort. The brunette wouldn't help herself to caress the slightly swollen cheek and her eyes traced the bruises on the body, fighting back the tears that threatening to fall. She didn't understand how life could be this cruel to such a sweet little boy. Once again, he was back to here. And once again, he had no one but the doctors around him...
An intern entered to the trauma room broke their trance and informed Alex that an OR was ready. It needed to be done in the OR because Oscar was going to need a full cast from his elbow to the wrist to keep everything still so the bones would heal properly. And because he was so little, he had to be put under in order to set the broken bones correctly.
"OR 3 is ready and Carlson is going to scrub in. But if you..." Alex asked while he unlocked the stretcher, and the intern and Arizona put everything else in place so that they could wheel the patient up to the OR. But the head of Ortho department shook her head again.
"No, I can't. I had some beer." Callie had never hated her best friend as much as now, who suggested her to take the glass of beer earlier.
"I am in the OR." Arizona offered as she helped pushing the stretcher. And she added quickly before Alex opened his mouth. "No, I'm not gonna assist. I just want to sit by his head. He must be scared. I just want to be in there for him."
When the team moved toward the OR, Callie headed toward the waiting room. She was hoping to catch a glimpse of the monster who did this to the sweet little baby, and maybe give him a piece of her mind if she could. But she had no such luck. By the time she had arrived there, the foster father was already escorted by the police with handcuff around his wrists - a couple of nurses told her as she looked around the waiting room. Oscar was a well loved boy in the hospital, of course those nurses would keep an eye on this. And of course they knew why the attending was there on her day off.
Instead of going to the gallery watching the procedure, the brunette slumped down on one of the chairs in the waiting room. She wasn't sure that she had the stomach to watch the boy that she had cared so deeply on the table. For the first time, she truly understood why they'd never allowed any family member to be around during surgery. She knew that it wasn't really a surgery and Carlson was good. But still, she was worried, deep in her bones worried that anything would happen to Oscar. Complication happens. Anesthesia is inherently dangerous, especially risky for someone has heart condition, or weakened body. Judging by the bruises across his body, Oscar didn't seem to have a strong body for this fight...
Oh, those bruises... Callie covered her face with both hands and sighed. The images of the beaten body, the swollen cheek, the jump when a hand was placing on his head mixed with the memories of the innocent toothless grin, the beaming smile on that chubby face when he knew she was going to pick him up from the crib, the way that little face scrunched up when Cristina fed him ketchup for the very first time...
The brunette didn't know how long she was sitting there in the waiting room. She was getting herself all worked up imagining the life of that poor baby in the past 3 months until a familiar voice pulled her out of it.
"Dr. Torres, how is Oscar?" Janet rushed into the waiting room where one of the nurses told her that she would find Callie it there. What she didn't know was that she was going to be greeted by the famous Torres glare.
"How was Oscar?" Callie jumped up from the chair as soon as Janet came to her. She towered over the shorter woman with fire in her brown eyes. "Oh, let me recall. It seems that he was beaten so badly that he has bruises across his body. And apparently someone slapped him in the face before breaking his arm in pieces!"
"Oh my god!" Janet took a step back and gasped.
"Oh my god is right! How would you let this happen?" The fire in Callie's eyes didn't let up. She continued to stare at the clueless social worker with hands on her hips.
"Me?" Janet said through her trembled lips and her face turned pale.
"Yeah! You!" The brunette pointed her finger at the Janet's face stressing her point. Of course it wasn't Janet's fault that Oscar was hurt by that foster family, but the resentment blinded Callie's good sense. "You put him in that family! You put that innocent boy in there!"
"Dr. Torres, you are angry. I can see that..." Janet took another step back, and Callie followed.
"You bet your ass that I'm angry! This is your job to find him a loving family that would keep him safe! Instead, you put him in a place that brought him back to this hospital all beaten up!" Ignoring the few pair of prying eyes around them in the waiting room and the people gathering outside, Callie continued berating the woman from between her set teeth. "And where were you? We've called you over an hour ago!"
"Dr. Torres, you have your job and I have mine!" Apparently, the aggressiveness of Callie had stroke a nerve. The social worker held up her hand and stared back at the brunette. "I wasn't sitting around doing nothing the afternoon. Once I received the call from your nurse, I rushed to that house to make sure the other two boys are safe. They told me that the father hurt Oscar badly, and they finally told me that the father hit them from time to time when he had a couple of beer too much. So then I drove around with them to find them another place to stay. I didn't know that couple joined the foster home program for the money. How could I know? The children never complained about them."
"No one has ever complained about them?" Callie was taken aback by this information, and her face softened noticeably.
"No, because the children were afraid that no other home would take them!" Janet seemed almost on the verge of tears. 12 years in the jobs, she had helped countless kids settling in homes. Of course there were good matches and in the meantime, same situation liked what she was dealing with had happened from time to time. She was taught to take her own emotion out of it, but it never got easier. "I confronted with the wife. She admitted that they usually host for older kids, never under the age of 5 because babies are handful. They agreed to take Oscar in because they'd get paid more for hosting a kid with pre-existing condition."
"I am sorry, Janet. I didn't know... I am sorry." Callie apologized to the social worker sincerely. She was mad and she had all the reason to, but learning that Janet wasn't really the one to blame, she didn't hesitate to admit that she was wrong. "But shouldn't that be a red flag that they've never..."
"What choice do I have?" Janet let out a sigh of frustration, and a bitter smile hanging on her lips. "Yes, there are many foster families in the state, but as soon as they heard that Oscar is a boy with heart condition, everyone said no. Dr. Torres, the system is not perfect and I know that. I am doing the best I could, if you believe me."
Callie just simply nodded her head.
"Now, I just want to know how is Oscar, how is his condition so I can start looking for a new home for him." The social worker looked between the brunette surgeon standing before her and the people gathering outside the waiting room, hoping someone would give her an update. And she locked eyes with a blonde dressing in navy blue scrubs, leaning against the doorframe watching their exchange.
"No, you don't have to find him another home." Finally, Arizona stepped deeper into the waiting room, a thoughtful look on her face.
"Arizona?" Callie stared at her girlfriend with widen eyes, chill shiver rippled over her skin as she imagined the worst really had happened in the OR with Oscar. Luckily, Arizona threw her a small smile before giving the update.
"Oscar is doing fine. We've put the cast on his arm and will keep it on for 2 months until his bones are completely healed. There has no internal damages were made other than the bruises on his body, but we'll prescribe the necessary vitamin for him just in case." Arizona had the soft smile on her face as she briefed the social worker, with a hint of determination behind her blue eyes. "He could be discharged in 3 days but you don't need to find him a foster home. I am going to take him in. I am going to foster him."
"Arizona..." Callie put a hand on the blonde's upper arm, as if she was trying to object this idea.
"I am sorry, Calliope. I should have discussed this with you first but Janet is right." Arizona placed her hand over Callie's and turned to face her girlfriend fully. "It's not easy to find him a home and I should have done this in the first place. I shouldn't have let him go."
"Arizona, we are not going to foster him." The brunette shook her head decisively. Taking the hand of her girlfriend's in hers, she turned to the social worker with her head held high. "Janet, Arizona and I are going to adopt Oscar. Send us the paper."
"Who would have thought that adopting a foundling would need to fill up so many forms?" Callie frowned while reading through the papers. "Fostering seems easier, considering they just let anyone has a home to do it, with no proper background check."
"You know they've checked." Arizona took her eyes off of the form that she was filling in, glancing at the woman sitting next to her with a brief smile.
The doctors had settled Oscar in a room after the procedure in the OR. He should be coming out from the anesthesia shortly after but the head of Peds decided to keep him under a little longer, giving him the time to truly rest his body. After leaving Ossie, the plush toys that Oscar left behind 3 months ago, beside the sleeping boy keeping him company, the couple went to the attending's lounge checking on the papers that Janet had emailed to them.
And it was a lot.
"Look at this list - blood work, financial statements, a home study, I mean, fire alarms." The brunette groaned and leaned both elbows on the table, looking down at the papers on the table. "And this is all just to see if the U. S. C. I. S. thinks that we're suitable to adopt."
"Look, if you don't want to do this ..." Stilling her writing hand, Arizona wetted her lips gazing at the brunette nervously. She knew it was rash and she wouldn't blame Callie for having a second thought.
"Yes, I do. It's just a bit overwhelmed, you know." Callie answered rapidly without hesitation. "It's a long day and so much had happened. I just wish that we could have more time to prepare for it."
"Yeah, but we don't do it now, they'd put Oscar in another foster home..." Arizona looked back at the form spreading in front of her and the reel in her head was turning. Maybe... maybe Callie didn't want to put her name in there yet...
"No, I don't mind, really. Just... well, normally I'm the impulsive one, it's kinda refreshing to see you make a decision, a big decision just like that." The brunette snapped her fingers and laughed. And it brought out a matching laugher from her girlfriend.
"I know, it's kinda scary to be honest." Still chuckling and beaming, the blonde took Callie's hand in hers. "You know, I've talked to Teddy earlier today. I asked her when the best time is to have kid, and she told me that there has no perfect timing. And she was right."
"How so?" Callie frowned at the strange advice coming from the new mother.
"You can make plans and arrangements, but things never really go the way that you want them to be." Arizona fondled the strong yet soft hand in hers, as she looked deep into the brown eyes. "And for all I know, I didn't plan to fall in love with a straight woman, no matter how hard I tried not to, I have fallen in love with you. I didn't plan to be a parent, Oscar came into our lives."
"Twice." Callie corrected the blonde with a soft smile. "He was gone, and now he's back."
"Yeah, now he's back." The blonde nodded her head slowly, amplifying her words as she gave the holding hand a firm squeeze. "We're gonna take this one step at a time, one day at a time, okay?"
"One day at a time." Callie answered with the biggest grin on her face.
"In fact, look, I can see something we could cross off today." The blonde slid one of the papers that she had read earlier in front of the woman.
"Are you sure?" Callie squinted as she read the paragraph about 2 parents adoption. The blonde had underlined the part about married couple while she read it. "You didn't seem like interested in it. You didn't even give me an answer when we talked about it."
"I was messing with you, moron." Arizona reached out to brush a strand of raven black hair behind Callie's ear before placing her hand on the caramel cheek. Gazing into the brown eyes, she said with a smile. "Like I said, I already felt like your wife. I couldn't believe you'd think that I'd say no."
"So... you're saying yes?" Leaning into the hand on her cheek, Callie's smile went even wider if that'd be possible.
"You really need me to spell it out?" Arizona chuckled lightly before pressing her lips against Callie. The brunette moaned into the kiss when their tongues found each other. Words weren't needed anymore. She had the answer.
The sweet little moment was interrupted when the door of the attending's lounge opened and someone entered.
"You two seem in a good mood." Miranda Bailey, who was never fond of her peers showing affectionateness in work place, didn't even give a second glance to the kissing couple as she headed toward the coffee pot in the corner. "I've heard that Oscar's back to the hospital with a broken arm. I thought you would be upset."
"We're getting married, Bailey." Callie beamed at her colleague, and the smiling blonde added quickly. "We've decided to adopt Oscar as a married couple."
"Congratulations, on both getting married and adopting the boy." Bailey said over her shoulder while fixing her coffee, with a typical deadpan Bailey look but a hint of smile in her voice. "You should have done that much earlier, you know. Everyone can see that you two love that boy."
"We should have done this much earlier." Arizona agreed with a nod, gesturing the papers spreading across the table with a hand. "Janet said that we could have the temporary custody of Oscar once we sent in the application papers, it doesn't have to be completed. I think we can fill in most of the information by tomorrow, and take Oscar home with us when he can be discharged."
"I'll call my mom asking if she knows any good adoption attorney in this state." The brunette offered, and the big smile had never dropped from her face. "But before that, what do you say we go to the city hall in the morning for our marriage license first?"
"The city hall?" Arizona was surprised. She always thought that Callie would want to have a white wedding, white puffy wedding dress and all. "Don't you want a big wedding like Teddy's?"
"Arizona, I want a marriage, not a wedding." Callie enveloped both of Arizona's hands in hers with a teasing smile, but her tone wasn't lack of earnest. "If you want it, I'll do it with you of course. But we both saw how stressful it was for Teddy's. The invitations, flowers, color scheme, favors, hors d'oeuvres, guest list, and all other details... Do you really want that?"
"No..." The blonde's voice trailed off as she recalled how her best friend turned into a bridezilla for her wedding. It wasn't pleasant.
"And we say that we are going to adopt Oscar as a married couple." Callie wasn't lying when she said that she wanted a marriage. And she was even more excited about starting a family with the love of her life, and a boy that both of them had fallen in love with. When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible. "We go get the license in the earlier morning, we can send out the application before noon."
"Hmm... Are you sure you can just go to the city hall, asking to get married and have everything done in a couple of hours?" Bailey chimed in, sitting down by the table with her cup of coffee in hand.
"I don't know, do you?" Callie asked.
"How would I know?" The short woman gave a contemptuous shrug of the shoulders. She might have known a lot of things, but this was not one of them. "But I guess it wouldn't be that easy. It's a government department after all. I think it could be more like the DMV, not a fast food drive through."
"Well... we still have to go there. This is the only way to get married." Arizona looked at her newly engaged fiancée, a little pout of disappointment on her face.
"Have you two been living under a rock? That's not the only way to get married." Bailey shrugged her shoulders again. "Everyone can get ordained online and become a minister in minutes."
"Seriously?" Arizona and Callie exchanged a look before asking.
"Seriously. It is easy, just go to the website, following the instruction and..." Bailey sipped her coffee smugly. Yeah, Dr. Bailey still knew everything. But her smug fell when Callie leaned forward, eyes sparkled asking with excitement in her voice.
"No, I mean, are you seriously going to do that for us?"
"Me? No, I am not offering. I mean, I offered you an alternative if you want to make it quick. You should ask... I don't know, Mark Sloan, he's your best friend." Quickly, the short General surgeon shot up from the chair, backing toward the door trying to get away from this as soon as she can. "Or maybe chief Shepherd. Definitely not me."
"Bailey Bailey Bailey... they are not here." Instantly, Arizona got up from her seat, striding toward the woman who already had a hand on the door knob. She knew very well that if Bailey wasn't going to officiate their wedding, Mark would be Callie's choice and that man could agree to do it in a heartbeat. Not that she hated the man that much but hell, she didn't want to be married by Mark Sloan. She couldn't let Bailey walked away from them. Holding the short woman's shoulders with both hands, the blonde batted her eyelashes to her best puppy dog eyes. "Besides, you are our friend."
"Yeah, you're the best person to marry us. We know each other since our residencies, Bailey." Oblivious to her fiancée's intention, Callie agreed with a grin. She added when her oldest peer gave her a stink eye. "And... And I saved your son's life. You said that, you owe me."
"I can not believe you're bringing it up right now." Bailey stared in a stunned way at the Ortho surgeon who saved her son years ago when the poor boy was trapped under the bookcase at home. It was a severe injury and Callie was one of the doctors that brought her son back to her. And she did say that she owed the Ortho goddess for that. She just couldn't believe the brunette was cashing in now.
"We need you, Bailey. Please..." Arizona batted her eyelashes again.
"Fine, I'll do it." Finally, Bailey rolled her eyes and gave in. "So, tomorrow morning?"
"We can do it right now, since we're here." Always the impulsive one, Callie already pulled up the browser in her phone looking for the website.
"You are incredible." The General surgeon looked around the messing attending's lounge and she had an idea. If she was going to do it, she'd do it right. Holding up her arm, she checked the time. "I have a surgery in 20 minutes. How about we meet each other in the chapel downstairs in 2 hours? It can also give you time to go home get change, freshen up. You don't want to get married in scrubs, or the dresses that you wore to Teddy's wedding, do you?"
Bailey had a point. It had been a long day and they could use a shower. They wanted to do it casually, but still, it shouldn't be too sloppy. After all, this would be an event that they'd remember for the rest of their lives, and the story to tell their children. After parting with Bailey, they went to check on Oscar, and then the soon-to-be married couple went home to prepare for their wedding.
The women had to laugh when they looked into their closet. They wanted to wear something white for their wedding but it was funny that none of them owned a white dress. Finally, Callie settled on a red dress that she knew Arizona liked it on her. And Arizona put on the same outfit that she wore the time they met on the blind date.
And on the way back to the hospital, they both agreed that they'd have to call their parents or they'd be in big trouble.
"Thank you, dad. And mom, please stop crying... I know, I know those are happy tears... Sure, we'll take some pictures for you... And yes, Callie and Oscar and I will come visit you as soon as we can... Love you too. Bye mom, bye dad." Arizona ended the call with a big smile on her face. Sure, the Robbins was a little upset that they couldn't be in there for their daughter's wedding, but they were understanding and happy for her.
She stopped right outside the chapel waiting for her future wife, who was a few steps behind her, seemingly having a less smooth conversation with her father. The brunette had to stop her feet a couple times, focusing on explaining to the man on the other end of the phone.
"No daddy, you don't have to save the date because Arizona and I are going to get married right now... Right now means right now, right this minute." Callie rolled her eyes in annoyance before making a grimace to Arizona. And her eyes almost rolled to the back of her eye sockets hearing her father saying. "None of us are pregnant. No, that's not the reason we are getting married in a hurry... I've told you, we are going to adopt a baby... No daddy, I am not pregnant. We're adopting... I'll tell you everything about this tomorrow when I call mom... no, you don't have to wake her up, I just need to ask her for..."
Arizona opened the door to the chapel for the brunette as she was still talking on the phone. The cellphone almost slipped off of her hand when Callie took in the surrounding. And Arizona was as astonished as her.
The usually empty chapel was now filled with familiar faces. Well, the chapel was basically a small room with a few rolls of benches, but still it was a shocker to see all those people that were both Arizona and Callie's friends from work, or had worked closely with gathering in there. Even more surprisingly, most of them should be on a day off for attending Teddy's wedding.
And the decoration in the chapel was simply amusing. Bandages wrapped around the benches as ribbons, with glove balloons hanging here and there. The walls were draped with pink and light yellow trauma gowns adding a layer of color to the pale background. And a bunch of colorful get well soon, it's a boy/girl balloons were placed behind the altar.
"Daddy, I'd have to call you back." Callie ended the call with her father quickly, as Mark and Owen was walking toward her and Arizona. Each of them was holding a bouquet in their hands.
"What..." Arizona asked when Owen handed her one of the bouquet.
"Bailey called us." The Trauma surgeon smiled wholeheartedly, and he stuck out his arm. "I know that you'd prefer to have your father walk you down the aisle. Hope you don't mind to have another military man doing the honor."
"Yeah, you think we'd miss this? The favorite lesbian couple in SGMW is getting married, of course we're all here." Mark winked at the blonde as he pulled Callie in his embrace.
"Bailey did all this? Calling you guys and decorating here?" Arizona still couldn't pick up the jaw that had dropped to the floor yet. She couldn't believe the General surgeon who was standing in the front of the chapel smiling at them, the woman who didn't want to be the ordained minister in the first place, had pulled everything together in just 2 hours for them.
"She had the interns doing the decorations." Owen nodded toward the few interns that were sitting on the last bench, all looking at the couple of the hour with the biggest grins on their faces. "And it was not an easy task for them. They couldn't get anything appropriate this late in the night."
"No, it looks perfect." Callie choked back a response. Her teary brown eyes gazed into the equally watery blue eyes. Both shared the same gratitude toward their friends, and no doubt that they were taking a mental note to reward those interns who gave them a theme wedding. A theme wedding that was actually appropriate for the couple of surgeons.
Bailey at the altar gave a signal to Alex, the man pressed the button on his phone and the song of Marry me by Bruno Mars started ringing around the chapel. The guests and the marrying couple roared with laughter with the lyrics.
It's a beautiful night
We're looking for something dumb to do
Hey baby, I think I wanna marry you
Yeah, this was absolutely appropriate.
"Shall we?" Owen offered his arm again, the blonde bride gladly took it and slowly, they strolled down the aisle. And she couldn't hold back another laugh hearing the song continued.
Well I know this little chapel on the boulevard we can go
No one will know
Oh c'mon girl
Arizona gave the man escorting her down the aisle a tight hug and a peck on the cheek after they stopped in front of the ordained minister, then she turned around to wait for the woman that would become her wife in minutes. As she looked at the love of her life from afar in her sexily elegant red dress, Arizona found herself enfolding by an overwhelming feeling of happiness, and fortunate.
She had loved this woman since the first time they spent the night together. And she almost blew it due to her indecision and insecurity. Fortunately, she was given a second chance. Callie came back to Seattle from LA. They found each other again, and they fell in love. And now, they were getting married.
Even though she said that she had already felt like Callie's wife, making it official still gave her a giddy pleasure, smiling uncontrollably.
"Mark..." Callie said soft, but she didn't take her eyes off of the gorgeous woman smiling at her from few feet away, in the same outfit that they met for the first time a year and a half ago.
"Are you having cold feet?" Mark being Mark, wouldn't miss the change to make a joke with a mischievous smirk on his face, even though he knew very well that there had nothing in the world could pull Callie away from the woman that she loved so deeply. "You want me to get you out of here?"
"No. Never." The brunette gave a short chuckle. She turned to her best friend, brown eyes glittering with happy tears. "I just want to say thank you."
"For what?" The man raised his eyebrows.
"For setting up the date for Arizona and me." Callie leaned forward to hug the man with both arms around his back. "I know it was a prank to start with, and I would never in a million years imagine myself falling in love with a woman. But I do. I love her, Mark. And I'm about to marry her. So, thank you."
"I just put the two of you in the restaurant, the rest are all yours, kid." Mark said sincerely while squeezed the woman in his arms. Yes, it was a prank, but deep down, he wanted his best friend to be happy and apparently, mission accomplished. He pulled back after kissing Callie in the temple, and then he offered his arm. "So, are you ready?"
Don't say no no no no no
Just say yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
And we'll go go go go go
If you're ready, like I'm ready
"Yes, I'm ready." Callie beamed her megawatt smile as she made the way up the aisle, fully ready for the rest of her life to begin.
A/N 2 : Nope, not gonna go into the details of this wedding, sorry.
A/N 3 : This feels like the end, right? I could, but not gonna, yet. I have a plot that I'm going to use in this story, so, bear with me for a couple more chapters XO
A/N 4 : Oscar will be the center of the next chapter, but it is going to take some time for me to update because I'm moving home in this month. Like I said, life is a bitch.