"Dr. Robbins" Callie forced a smile as she walked to the surgical board to see her itinerary for the day. She was exhausted, the mover's had arrived yesterday lunch time to begin moving their belongings into the house her and Penny had purchased in Seattle upon hearing Sofia's news about moving back to the emerald city and knowing they would need a base in the city for the many visits they would be making over the years. Luckily now they had decided to move also, they had an instant house to move into.
"Dr. Torres" Arizona smiled politely as she scanned the board and tried not to focus on the fact that Callie was stood right beside her at the board for the first time in over fifteen years, and she still smelt exactly the same, she obviously had never changed the brand of shampoo or body wash over the years and she clearly hadn't ditched her favorite brand of perfume because she still smelled heavenly. She had to make a conscious effort to not allow her eyes to close and just revel in the scent that was uniquely Calliope Torres.
"Dr. Robbins, Dr. Torres" Penny forced a smile as she walked to the board to find her partner and her partners ex-wife stood next to each other and frowned at the lack of space between them before turning her attention to the surgical board to see if any general surgeries had her name attached to them.
"Hello Dr. Blake, Long time!, you're looking well" Arizona offered with a forced smile, trying her hardest to be welcoming and polite for the sake of her daughter.
"You too Dr. Robbins, nice to see you again" Penny stated without making any form of eye contact, her tone showing she clearly wasn't happy about Arizona being stood with them.
"Well this isn't awkward" Callie sighed under her breath, more to herself than to either of the women stood with her however both heard her.
"Why would it be awkward, you and Dr. Robbins broke up a long, long time ago" Penny snapped, growling in annoyance at the glare Callie gave her.
"I don't think it's awkward... were just three doctors who are stood looking at the surgical board" Arizona tried to break the tension that was quickly building between the three of them.
"Of course you would disagree with me" Penny muttered angrily under her breath as she rolled her eyes in annoyance.
"Sorry... pardon?" Arizona asked with a frown, surprised by the hostility from her ex-wife's partner as she glanced between Penny and Callie to try and work out what was going on right now.
"Nothing" Penny snapped as she glared at Arizona, growling when she saw the blonde roll her eyes at her.
"Pen come on, don't do this here! we promised Sofia we would keep our personal lives out of the hospital so we need to respect that" Callie pleaded, turning to show the red head the begging in her eyes to just let it go.
"We?... no, no not we... you and your ex-wife promised, I was not involved in the conversation Callie" Penny growled through gritted teeth.
"I'm sorry, do you have an issue with Callie and I having a discussion together with our daughter" Arizona finally snapped, trying her hardest to keep her cool and keep her voice down.
She glanced around and saw several people hanging around to hear the argument that was clearly coming and relented slightly. "Callie we can't do this here... we need to go somewhere private" Arizona begged, hating that they were breaking their promise to their daughter less than twenty four hours after they made it.
Callie nodded and walked into the nearest meeting room, both women following hot on her heels, Callie shut the door behind them and closed the blinds.
"This needs to stop, we promised our daughter we would keep our personal lives out of this hospital and we need to respect her wishes" Callie snapped for the first time now they didn't have an audience.
"No Callie, you and Arizona promised her, I didn't" Penny reiterated, her hands on her hips as she stared down her partner.
"What exactly is your problem Penny? Do you have an issue with Callie and I having a conversation with OUR daughter" Arizona asked, shocked when Penny scoffed at her. "What am I missing here?" Arizona asked nervously.
"She is my daughter too. I should have been involved in this agreement" Penny yelled, not at all caring about the volume of her voice or who could hear her, only caring about making her point to her partners snooty ex.
"Penny stop!" Callie snapped but before she could get any further words out, Arizona's voice broke the momentary silence.
"Hang on... I don't remember you being there during the pregnancy, I don't remember you being there when she was born, or in her first few years.. You may be Calliope's partner, but that does not automatically make you her mother" Arizona growled angrily, unbelieving of the gall of this woman Calliope had brought into their lives.
"I'm more of her mother than you are... where the hell were you the last fifteen years?" Penny screamed, stepping closer to Arizona and clenching her fists.
"Woah!... I was right here, where I have always been. Right where I was when YOU took my family away from me so don't you dare..." Arizona growled as she faced off with the red head, not backing down one iota.
"Arizona open your eyes. I'm her mother's partner exactly the same as you WERE her mother's partner. You have no more rights than I have. You have no right to her, you're not her fucking mother" Penny screamed as she finally felt a piece of ease at finally getting the words off her chest to the blonde part of Callie's past.
Arizona's jaw dropped as the tears fell from her eyes at the words, for several moments there was silence in the room as each person tried to formulate their next response.
"Arizona, get out" Callie fumed, her eyes boring holes into Penny as she spoke, never once looking to the blonde in fear of seeing the devastation in her eyes at what Penny had just said to her and how much hurt it surely caused the blonde.
"No... I will not get out how can you..." Arizona snapped as she glared between the brunette and the redhead but was cut off mid sentence by a Latina fury that she had never seen before, and that was saying something considering some of the arguments the pair had entered in the last two decades.
"Arizona, out NOW" Callie screamed as she pointed at the door, her eyes reddening instantly as she fought her body to now allow the tears to fall, her eyes not once moving from Penny.
"This isn't over Calliope, we will be talking about this" Arizona snapped as she stormed out of the door, slamming it with all her force behind her before collapsing against the wall and letting the tears fall down her face at the pain she was feeling. She never thought she would ever hear anyone say such horrible things about her relationship and ties to her daughter.
"What the fuck did you just say about her daughter?" Callie screamed at her partner, the time for trying to control her anger having flown out the window the second Penny accused Arizona of not being Sofia's real mother.
"Callie. It's true, she's not her mother any more than I am" Penny growled, not backing down despite seeing the anger seething in Callie's eyes.
"Don't you dare! Don't you dare ever say that" Callie whispered angrily, her heart in her mouth as she fought the overwhelming anger that anyone would have the audacity to even attempt to claim Arizona's parenting rights.
"Why, because it's true? Arizona is not Sofia's mother" Penny snarled, she stumbled back when Callie's open hand met her cheek in a powerful slap that left her reeling as the sting pulsed through her face, instantly an angry red hand print began to form on the red heads pale cheek.
"Arizona Michelle Robbins is the mother of my child, I don't give a shit what you say, or what anyone says, my child has three parents, and only three. Mark Sloan, Arizona Robbins and me. YOU are NOT her parent, Arizona is! You may not like it but I don't give a fuck Penny, she is her mother, she is the mother of my child and you will never speak to her like that again and you will not ever demean her position in my daughter's life, do you hear me? Do you understand Penelope?!" Callie screamed, all restraint lost in the depths of anger as her finger remained in Penny's face despite its obvious tremble from her seething anger.
"Fuck you Callie. You are meant to be on my fucking side. I moved here to be with you and within a day your taking Arizona's side and hitting me, what the fuck. Not even twenty four fucking hours. Your not with her anymore, your with ME" Penny yelled as tears fell down her face and she cradled her cheek which was quickly swelling from the slap, she could tell the strike was hard enough to leave a bruise she was going to struggle to cover up.
"Ok let me make this perfectly clear for the last time... you only moved back here to be with me because I left my family and my home to follow you to New York. And when it comes to taking sides it goes in this order and will always go in this order... my daughter, the mother of my daughter, then any one else, which includes you. If you don't like that then maybe you should go back to New York to your so called friends" Callie growled fiercely, not leaving any room for misunderstanding.
"Are you fucking serious right now? you are going to take that whore's side over mine? The woman who fucked someone else behind your back the first chance she had?" Penny screamed, finally reaching her limit.
"Don't you dare bad mouth her! she may have fucked up and made a monumental mistake... but she is the mother of my daughter and I won't have you or anyone else speak about her like that and what she or I did or didn't do in our marriage has absolutely nothing to do with you so keep your damn mouth shut and stay out of it" Callie yelled angrily.
"Fuck you Callie... you wanna be like this... fine, I'm so sick of this, choose right now" Penny crossed her arms adamantly over her chest, knowing fine well Callie would never break up with her over her ex and a stupid argument. Any second now the brunette would sigh in frustration and apologize and offer to cook them a nice meal to make it up to her.
"Penny, do not even try to make me choose between you or Sofia and Arizona" Callie growled as she failed to bite back a scoff at the self sure look crossing her girlfriends face.
"Choose Callie... either it's me or it's Arizona...I'm not asking you to choose between Sofia, I'm asking you to choose between me and your ex" Penny spat with anger in her eyes.
"Fine... you really want me to choose Penny? You really want to do this? I chose you fifteen years ago, I followed you to New York. I took mine and Arizona's daughter and I moved from everyone we knew to be with you we left our family and our home for YOU and I have regretted that decision every single waking moment since. You want me to choose again, I'm not going to make that same mistake again, I choose my family, the mother of my daughter and my daughter every single god damn time, because I was asked to choose once and I made the wrong fucking choice, if you can't accept that, then I will take my boxes and move them out of the house and move in with Sofia and you can do whatever the hell you want. You. Will. Not. Make me choose you over my family again Penelope" Callie growled as Penny's jaw dropped in shock.
"Fuck you Callie" Penny yelled, quickly spinning on her heel and storming from the room coming face to face with a crowd of people including a blonde who looked like she was awaiting her appearance to give her a slap or two of her own. "She's all yours. Congratulations!" Penny spat as she stormed past the blonde, shoulder checking her in the process and causing Arizona to bang into the wall. Ignoring the pain that shot through her shoulder, Arizona stormed into the office and closed the door behind her determined to have this out with her ex despite overhearing Callie defending her, nobody had the right to tell her that Sofia was not hers however the anger instantly diminished the second her eyes landed on Callie sat slumped on the floor crying and completely broken.
"Arizona please not now... just please... you can yell at me all you want later, I deserve it for what she said to you... just please not right this second, please I'm begging you" Callie sobbed without needing to look up to know it was Arizona who had entered the room seconds after Penny's exit. Of course the blonde had stood and waited for her chance to have it out with her too.
Arizona crossed the room and dropped to sit on the floor next to her ex, their shoulders touching as they sat in silence as Callie's sobs filled the air.
"Arizona please just go, I can't have you in here right, I can't have you see me like this… I can't… I don't want you seeing me like that" Callie begged between sobs and hiccups.
"Shut up Callie. Just... stop trying to tell me what to do and just shut up and breath" Arizona snapped as she wrapped her arm around Callie's shoulder. The brunette instantly melting into the blonde's embrace and sobbing.
"Why are you being so nice to me?" Callie sobbed several moments later.
"Because you're the mother of my daughter and I care about you even when I'm pissed at you, or the situation, or feel like punching you or more specifically your stupid girlfriend… I still care and I always will… its one of the things that frustrates me the most about you, my inability to not love and care about you" Arizona admitted trying to lighten the mood which just caused Callie to cry harder.
"I'm sorry about what she said... I tore her a new one about it… if it helps at all, I don't think she will ever try and say it again" Callie confessed eventually.
"I know, I heard... did you actually slap her?" Arizona smiled softly as Callie nodded and bowed her head in shame.
"So bad ass!" Arizona whispered causing Callie to breath out a laugh into her chest.
"Stop it... I shouldn't have hit her, that was so wrong of me… nothing justifies that" Callie sighed.
"Probably not... but it's done now" Arizona couldn't hide her grin as she practically sang.
"You know you don't need to be so smug about it" Callie scoffed.
"I know, I know... I'm just kinda jealous. I may have wanted to slap her for several years now" Arizona smirked as she nudged Callie who smirked at her.
"You're not helping" Callie scoffed.
"Oh but I think I am, because I just saw you smile for the first time in over fifteen years and that to me says I'm helping" Arizona giggled.
"You suck" Callie pouted.
"I know. And I'm truly sorry that you just broke up with your partner. You've been with her a long time" Arizona kissed the top of Callie's head affectionately, something she used to do a long time ago to soothe the Latina when she was upset or hurting.
"Thanks... now I need to go break the news to our daughter that she's going to have her mum living with her for a while" Callie sighed as she melted into the feeling of safety that Arizona's lips provided against her head.
"What the hell guys... what happened to keeping our private lives out of the hospital?" Sofia snapped as she stormed into the office and stopped dead in her tracks when she found her mother's cuddled up and her mama's mouth against her mum's head, Arizona spun around to find her daughter stood shocked and rooted to the spot.
"I should go and let you two talk" Arizona offered as she patted Callie's shoulder and stood up, hugging her daughter and kissing her head in a mirror image of how she kissed Callie just moments before. And then she exited the office leaving the two latina's to talk.
"What the hell are you all looking at, get back to work NOW" Arizona yelled uncharacteristically at the crowd surrounding the room waiting for more juicy gossip, allowing herself a slight smirk as every single person snapped to attention and scurried away in fear.
-oOo-
"So?" Stacy asked over a beer at Joe's.
"So my mum is moving her boxes into my apartment as we speak" Sofia frowned.
"Wait this is good... we got rid of Penny on day one, our job just got so much easier" Stacy grinned.
"Yeah but my mum is upset" Sofia sighed as she saw her mama enter the bar with several of the other doctors and they waved to each other with a smile.
"Your mama is pretty hot" Stacy announced absentmindedly.
"Hey that's my mother" Sofia grimaced.
"Your mum's pretty hot too... they must have been a pretty hot couple in their day" Stacy mused.
"Why are we talking about how hot my mothers are" Sofia grimaced deeper.
"I dunno, they just are... I'm just saying... they must have been quite the couple" Stacy grinned, hoping that Sofia would ask about her sexuality so she didn't have to give her an awkward speech about it.
"They were... did you see the photos in plastics?" Sofia asked with an almost dreamy smile as she remembered the photos of all three of her parents that she saw for the first time two days ago.
"No... you have to show me tomorrow" Stacy demanded and Sofia nodded accordingly.
"Hey Dr Brown, hey Dr Baby" Arizona smiled as she brought two beers over and kissed her daughter's head.
"Dr baby? Really mama?" Sofia grumbled when Stacy laughed.
"What... it's cute" Arizona shrugged.
"it is... cute for a child, which I'm not" Sofia pouted. "Wait... why are you so happy?" Sofia stared at her mother in shock. "wait... are you happy cause mum and Penny broke up?" Sofia accused with a mixture of shock, annoyance and amusement.
"What... no, of course not. That would make me a terrible person baby. I'm just happy because it's been a beautiful day" Arizona lied as she glanced nervously between the two interns.
"Oh my god mama... your happy because mum broke up with her girlfriend" Sofia accused again.
"Shh" Arizona admonished her as she slid into the booth. "hey keep your voice down. I am not happy that your mum and Penny broke up" Arizona stated seriously.
"Then why are you so happy?" Sofia asked pointedly.
"Because today your mother stood up for me, and she stood up for you, and she stood up for us. And afterwards for just one moment I got to hold her in my arms, and kiss her head, and for just one split second I could close my eyes and pretend that none of the bullshit happened and everything was just normal again" Arizona admitted.
"Joe, we need some shot's over here" Sofia called over to her new friend Joe. "Coming right up little Sloan" the bartender called back, quickly grabbing three shooters, pouring the tequila in them before carting them over to the three women.
"To love" Sofia grinned, as her mother and her new best friend chinked glasses before necking the liquor and grimacing.
"Your bad ass Dr. Robbins" Stacy grinned.
"Thanks Stacy, but when we aren't in the hospital it's Arizona" the blonde grinned warmly.
"Now you two enjoy your night, I'm going to head back over there and get drunk" Arizona winked at her daughter before kissing her on the head and leaving.
"Totally hot" Stacy grinned at her friend.
"Shut up" Sofia laughed and throw a balled up napkin at her friend.
The conversation flowed easily as the two young women laughed over gossip in the hospital, primarily around Sofia's family arguments. Three hours passed as the two women got slowly intoxicated and watched the people around them, guessing at which of the hospital staff were hooking up by their actions and all the sneaky flirty glances that were being thrown from too many people to keep count of.
"I love this place" Stacy announced rather tipsy.
"Me too. I especially love watching my mother get drunk and party with her friends... I mean she is like almost fifty and look at her... god I hope I have her confidence and lust for life when I'm that age" Sofia grinned as she pointed out her mother who was currently dancing with Meredith and April on a makeshift dance floor without a care in the world.
"So wait... let me get this right... your mama, head of peds, and mum, head of ortho, were together, but your mum slept with your dad, previous head of plastics, while your mum's were on a break... your dad was best friends with Dr Grey's... head of general surgery... husband, Dr Shepherd, previous head of Neuro, And Dr Grey's best friend is Dr Yang, head of cardio who used to live with your mum, and her sister in law, the female Dr Shepherd is the current head Neuro. Your dad trained the current head of plastics, Dr Avery, and your Mama's best friend is Dr Kepner, Head of Trauma, who is married to the head of plastics, Dr Avery and her other best friend Dr Karev is head of OBGYN oh and one of your godmothers is Dr. Bailey, The chief of surgery... have I missed anything?" Stacy laughed.
"That pretty much sums it up... oh and my cousin is Dr Grey-Shepherd... and pretty much all of the names you just listed are god parents or considered god parents" Sofia laughed when Stacy rolled her eyes.
"I know... it's like a big incestuous family... and I love it" Sofia grinned.
"Wow... it makes me wonder where we will all be in ten years time, whether we will all be part of a huge family like that" Stacy asked as she pointed at all the doctors stood around the bar talking and laughing.
"I reckon we will" Sofia grinned as she watched her mama laughing.
-oOo-
"Where have you been?" Callie asked when her daughter finally fell through the door laughing at her own inability to get the key in the lock only to find the door unlocked after all.
"At Joe's with Stacy" Sofia grinned.
"Sofia... you need to focus on your career right now" Callie admonished with a sigh.
"Mum come on... it was just a couple of drinks, relax" Sofia begged.
"Sofia, you can have drinks when your career isn't on the line, for now you need to focus and work hard. You are an intern, your place isn't guaranteed. Only one in three interns make it through their residency. I really don''t want you to have worked so hard for nothing" Callie begged.
"Well Mama said that you and her used to go to Joe's and drink, so what's the difference?" Sofia asked pointedly.
"Well your Mama should know better. We spent too much time drinking and having fun and look where it got us. Divorced. Single, fifty year old women. Is that what you want for yourself, because that's not what I want for you" Callie begged.
"Firstly... your not even fifty yet" Sofia glared when her mother scoffed at her. "secondly... so what if you're single, you don't need a relationship to define you, look at mama, she's been single for like at least fifteen years and look how happy she is. And your the head of ortho, you invented prosthetic cartilage and have so many accolades attached to your prosthetic's work, and mama is head of peds and neonatal and fetal surgery too... I hardly think having a bit of fun affected either of your careers… do I need to start on Dad's accolades too?" Sofia smirked.
"Fine. Fine... FINE... but the second your fun starts affecting your career, I will be coming down on you like a tonne of bricks young lady" Callie promised with a warning finger, trying to fight back the smirk at her daughter's ability to always get her way.
"Yes mummy" Sofia grinned as she fist pumped the air at having won an argument with her mum over having fun.
"Go to bed Sofia Robbin you're drunk" Callie warned as she settled into the bed she had made on the couch.
"Mum sleep up here with me, you can't sleep on the couch, we will get you a bed tomorrow" Sofia ordered, and Callie followed her daughters orders without argument. Callie slid into the king size bed and snuggled into the pillow, taking several deep breaths before a smile spread across her face.
"What are you smiling at?" Sofia asked with amusement as she watched her mother relax and sniff the pillow beneath her head.
"When did your mama slept here?" Callie asked almost dreamily as she basked in Arizona's scent.
"Two nights ago... how did you know that?" Sofia asked in surprise.
"This pillow smells like her" Callie admitted as she snuggled deeper into the pillow and sighed.
"Are you ok mum... about what happened with Penny?" Sofia asked as she snuggled into her mum and relaxed.
"I will be... I'm just angry right now. I'm really pissed with what she said about your mama. Penny and me haven't been working for a long time, but I couldn't face breaking up with her and forcing you into another broken home, so I stayed with her, and as every month passed the unhappier I became, and then it just became habit, at least having someone was better than being alone... I'm hurting, but I'm more angry than anything, but I'll be ok... if I can get through a break up with your mama then I can do this... piece of cake" Callie admitted sleepily.
"Mum, why don't you ever talk about what happened with you and mama?" Sofia asked as she pulled back to watch her mums face.
"Sofia..." Callie sighed. "it's complicated. We both did things wrong, we messed up and we lost each other because of it... I don't talk about it because it hurts too much. Your mama... she was the love of my life, and losing her hurt more than anything I could ever describe, thinking about what could have been if we just tried harder, if we just gave it one more shot, if we just waited one more day or one more week to see if we could fix it... it hurts, and I don't like talking about it because I'm ashamed of how I behaved, of how I walked away from my marriage, of how I didn't fight and fight and fight for my wife and our daughter. I don't talk about it because it is too damn painful to relive how I lost the love of my life... that's why I don't talk about it Sofia, and I'm too ashamed for you to know just how much me and your mama hurt each other" Callie sighed as she wiped away a tear.
"Mama told me" Sofia confessed, frowning when her mum raised up onto her elbow and looked down at her in worry.
"What did she tell you?" Callie asked.
"Everything... her leaving you to go to Africa, you sleeping with dad and getting pregnant with me, her coming back and having to fight for you, that she didn't want kids but fell in love with me, her cheating on you, the relationship she had with the intern and you ended up with the black mark against your name, the plane crash, how she shut you out and pushed you away... everything" Sofia confessed as she wiped away one of her mother's tears tenderly.
"Shit Sofia, I'm sorry, I never wanted you to know how much of a fuck up both of your mothers are" Callie sighed as she dropped back onto the pillow heavily.
"Are you fucking kidding me... my mother's are bad ass, both of them. After everything they have been through, today they stood together to support each other because they respect each other for being the other parent of their child... do you know how many co-parents can actually do that? I mean fuck mum you slapped Penny because she said that mama isn't really my mother... that's so bad ass, you're awesome and I know for a fact mama thinks so too" Sofia grinned.
"Watch your language" Callie scolded softly and grinned when Sofia rolled her eyes."I was pretty bad ass today" Callie whispered after a few moments a smile pulling at the edges of her lips.
"Yes you were" Sofia grinned. "and all the interns think your hot... it's slightly annoying hearing a bunch of guys talk about how they want to have a one on one with you in an on call room... uh, if I have to hear about all the places they would let you slap them one more time I swear..." Sofia grimaced, but smiled when she saw a huge grin spread across her mother's face.
"I missed seeing you smile like that" Sofia confessed. "It feels like it's been way too long since I have seen you smile mom"
"I've missed smiling like this... I can't explain it, but right now I just feel so... free... and like I have no weight holding me down anymore " Callie confessed.
"I'm glad mom... but I have to be up at five to get ready for rounds so I need to crash" Sofia admitted sadly.
"Goodnight baby, I love you" Callie whispered.
"I love you too mom. And I'm really proud of you for sticking up for me and mama today, I know it must have been hard for you to do that" Sofia offered.
"You would be surprised just how easy it was to stand up for the two of you" Callie admitted softly as she stared at the ceiling and listened to her daughter's soft snores.