Arizona opened her eyes and turned her head expecting to see her girlfriend's gorgeous smile as she slept, only to find an empty space where the pillow should be. She furrowed her brow wondering where Callie had gone and began to worry that maybe she had changed her mind and left to sleep in another room. As the haze of sleep left her brain, she realized there was something soft rubbing against her lower abdomen. Glancing down, her heart melted as she saw that Callie had pulled her pillow down, curled herself into a ball, and was caressing her bare stomach in small soothing circles while staring at it with a goofy grin on her face. Stretching out her arm, she ran her fingers through unruly black hair and said quietly, "You know, not for lack of trying, but I'm pretty sure we didn't make a baby last night." She felt a warm puff of breath against her side as Callie replied, "I'm just trying to picture what it will look like when its hard and full with my baby." Arizona smirked, "Your baby huh?" Callie snickered and shrugged, "Our baby. We want to have a baby." Arizona smiled brightly, tugged on the short tuft of hair lightly, indicating that she wanted Callie to come up to her, and replied, "We do. I know that brain is going a mile a minute, so what are you thinking?" Callie sat up, tossed her pillow back to the head of the bed, settled herself next to Arizona and immediately put her hand back down on the taut pale skin.
Callie leaned in and brushed their lips together as she murmured, "Good morning beautiful." Arizona caressed her cheek and whispered, "Good morning." She then swiped her thumb over a dark circle under a sleepy eye and asked, "Did you not sleep well?" Callie blushed slightly then answered, "You wore me out last night. I slept for a while, but I woke up about an hour ago and you're right, my mind has been racing." Arizona tilted her head and asked, "Are you having doubts?" Callie immediately shook her head in the negative and responded, "No, not at all. I just, we never looked at the paperwork and I'm just wondering, where is it, how do we get it here? How do we do this? When do you want to do it? I mean, we went through a clinic last time and they did all the work. Do we want to go through a clinic, should we call Addie, do we just do it ourselves?" Arizona could see the panic in Callie's eyes, she was becoming overwhelmed and when she became overwhelmed, she got scared and when she got scared, she started to worry. Trying to cut her off before she drove herself to a panic attack, Arizona leaned in, connected their lips in a long slow kiss and as she pulled back, she smiled as she saw some of the worry had disappeared. She then answered, "Okay, one question at a time." Callie took a deep breath, nodded her head, sat up and settled herself against the headboard.
Arizona took a strong tan hand in hers and started making soothing circles on the back of her hand and asked, "What is your most pressing question?" Callie took a deep breath and responded, "When do we want to start trying?" Arizona nodded and answered, "It depends on how we want to do this. I'd like to try IUI first, it's least invasive. Since I'll probably need Clomid and possibly a trigger injection, we will have to wait until my next cycle since I just finished last week." Callie's eyes widened and she took in a large gulp of air before she felt a huge smile growing on her face. She was expecting Arizona to say after the clinic opened or after their birthdays, or to wait until they decided to remarry or anything but next month. Seeing her response, Arizona asked, "Is that too soon? When do you want to try?" Callie shook her head fervently and exclaimed, "Definitely not too soon. I just…I thought you'd want to wait, until after the clinic opened or…I don't know." Arizona squeezed Callie's hand and gently explained, "We might not get as lucky as we were last time. I am older than I was and it rarely works the first time. But I'd like to try IUI at least twice, then we can look into IVF if we still aren't pregnant." Callie nodded, she knew it was rare that people got pregnant on their first round, but she couldn't help but be hopeful.
Callie looked down at their hands and asked, "You don't have an OB here yet, should we make an appointment with mine?" Arizona thought about it for a moment then answered, "We can make an appointment to get the initial tests done there, get everything ready, yes, but…with the miscarriage and my age, I'd really like to ask Addie to take the lead here. She knows us and she is the best." Callie nodded, relieved that Arizona would be taken care of by someone they knew and trusted. Arizona continued, "Once we get the center off the ground, I'll probably transfer my files to the center just so my regular OB/GYN is close by." Callie looked at her thoughtfully and asked, "You've really been thinking about this haven't you?" Arizona nodded her head and admitted, "If we hadn't come across that box, I'm sure I would have brought it up soon anyway." Callie blushed and replied, "I was thinking the same thing last night, it's like there were all these signs coming at me from every direction." Arizona nodded then asked, "You…you're really okay with me carrying?"
Callie knew Arizona was thinking about the miscarriage and turned fully to look at Arizona, put her hand up to her cheek and swore, "Arizona, I would love nothing more. I will be there every step of the way, every test, every ultrasound, every check-up, every bout of nausea, everything, I'll be there, I swear to you. I'll start my research now and I'll build you the best leg possible. Whatever you need…" Arizona could see the sadness in Callie's eyes, feel the guilt radiating from her soul, hear the remorse in her voice and it only confirmed what she already knew in her heart. Lifting her hand to cover Callie's she moved it to her lips and placed a soft kiss on the palm of her hand then returned them both to her cheek and responded sincerely, "I know you will because we are New York Callie and Arizona and we are stronger and closer and wiser and more in love than we have ever been. Those pains haunt us, but we can't make them our fears, we can't let them hold us back, we have learned from them and we move forward." Callie lifted her other hand to cover Arizona's other cheek and brought their lips together in a chaste kiss. Pulling back, she rested their foreheads together and stated, "We take everything as it comes, together." Arizona smiled and whispered, "Always together."
Callie brought her hands down, took Arizona's and settled them in her lap, then Arizona asked, "Okay, next question?" Callie smiled and asked, "Can we, uh…look at the paperwork, see what we are working with. I mean, I'm assuming it's in Seattle, I really didn't understand everything from his letter." Arizona leaned over her side of the bed and picked up the envelope off her nightstand where she laid it last night and brought it between them. Opening the clasp, she pulled out several extremely official looking documents. The first document was written on the letterhead of the bank they all three used in Seattle, which also had branches in New York where the two women still held accounts. Seeing this, Callie commented, "Well at least that part will be easy." Reading further, they found stipulations that the two of them had to access the funds together with photo identification along with the attached documentation. As they read through the documents, they came across the amount of the deposit which was placed in a special account to accumulate interest and Arizona blinked several times as she asked, "Jesus, how many kids did he think we were going to have?" Callie snickered and responded, "Honey, my guess is that was part of his gift, child support so to speak for any other kids we had because everything else already went in our names for Sofia and this clearly is way more than the cost of insemination." Arizona just shook her head and couldn't believe the man's generosity.
Reaching the final document, they read the letterhead of Seattle Sperm and Cryobank. Reading through, they found once again that the specimen had to be accepted or requested by them with photo identification. Reading further, they found that he had made multiple donations over the course of several months, the first being the month after Sofia was born. They also found that the storage fees were paid for up to ten years. Arizona again shook her head and whispered, "Wow, he really thought about this. I thought…I guess I thought it was his dying wish…I never expected that he'd considered it before hand." Both women were fighting back tears, they were well aware Mark considered them family and now understood exactly how important their family unit had become to him. Both women wiped their eyes and Arizona put the paperwork back into the envelope then suggested, "I think…I think we leave this part up to Addison. I mean, she knows how the transfer and delivery works, she can tell us who to contact and where to have it delivered." Callie nodded and took Arizona's hand and asked, "So, that's it then? We have a plan." Arizona agreed, "We have a plan." Within seconds, both women looked at one another and their faces broke into the most glorious smiles, knowing in their hearts this just felt right. This was their time.
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Skipping through the doors of Fresh START, Arizona was greeted by a nurse she barely recognized who appeared to be covering the front desk, "Good morning Dr. Robbins." Arizona offered her professional smile and returned, "Good morning, is Lorraine not here today?" The nurse nodded and answered, "She's here, everybody is upstairs with Julie for her big day. Chief said to send you right up." Arizona smiled brightly then and made her way to the elevator bank calling over her shoulder, "Thank you." Stepping off the elevator, Arizona noticed a whole gathering of doctors and nurses, some she recognized as part of Julie's surgical team, the physical therapist, and then of course there was Maria, Kim, and Lorraine waiting just outside the door waving for her to hurry. When Arizona stepped into the room, she saw that Callie was helping Julie sit up and bringing her legs over the side of the bed. Seeing Julie perk up, Callie turned and couldn't fight her own smile that spread across her face as the fetal surgeon rushed toward them. Obviously it wasn't usual for a fetal surgeon to be present when a patient took their first steps, but Callie and Arizona had discussed the amount of pain and stress this would cause the young girl and decided to err on the side of caution.
Arizona sat on the bed next to Julie and asked, "How are you feeling so far?" Julie inhaled deeply and responded, "Good, I haven't been getting so dizzy when I get up for PT, for a while there it was pretty bad." Arizona nodded and replied, "Some of that could have been morning sickness as well." Julie laughed and responded, "Oh, I've had plenty of that. But the medicine you prescribed helped." Callie and Arizona both checked the monitors and determined her heart rate and blood pressure were both within normal range, nodded at one another then Arizona proclaimed, "Okay, I'm just going to take a quick listen to your son and if he agrees, we will take a few steps." Julie took another deep breath and laughed nervously as she said, "Okay, I can do this." Callie rubbed soothing circles on her back and responded, "You certainly can." Putting her earpieces in her ears, Arizona placed the diaphragm on Julie's protruding stomach and moved the earpiece around until she heard a good, strong solid heartbeat. Taking her stethoscope off and hanging it around her neck she declared, "The boy says let's do this mama." Callie nodded, stood, and brought the walker over to the bed.
Callie explained, "Okay, you hold onto the grips here on the walker and Dr. Robbins and I are going to do most of the work. We will place one hand just here under your arms and the other on your back to help keep you steady. Once we get out the door, we will let go gradually, but Paul will be following behind you with a wheelchair. You just give the nod when you've had enough and we will bring you back in." Arizona added, "Once you are settled back in bed, we will take a look at baby with the ultrasound just to make sure he handled the ride okay." Julie nodded, put her chin to her chest, took a deep breath and asked, "Can…can I see Kim?" She no sooner asked than her friend appeared in the door saying, "You want to see me, you need to come out here." Julie's entire body relaxed at the sight of her best friend, smirked, looked at the two surgeons, nodded once and said, "I'm ready." Both Callie and Arizona looked to one another, counted to three silently, then hoisted the girl off the bed. Julie groaned at the pain that shot through her legs, straightened her back, let out a deep breath then nodded indicating she was ready to continue. Callie then directed, "Okay, I know they both hurt, but I need you to think about the leg that feels stronger and lead with that one because you'll need to put the most pressure on it for your first step." Julie swallowed thickly, nodded, then led with her right foot.
After several minutes of shuffling across the room, Julie was shocked to see the hall lined with people clapping and cheering her on as soon as she walked through the door. Kim walked in front of her backward saying, "You got this, just a few more steps." Lorraine stood just a few feet away at what she assumed was her endpoint, holding a milkshake from her favorite fast food joint goading, "If you want it, you need to come get it." She felt the exact moment when her doctors let go of her arms but could see they were both standing next to her. She took her next shaky step and looked up with watery eyes as surgeons, nurses, and even other patients were standing around her pushing her forward with their encouraging words. It's the first time since her parents passed that she truly felt like part of a family. Stopping just in front of Lorraine, she breathed a sigh of relief and gratefully accepted the straw the older woman held to her mouth and took a long drink, allowing the cool liquid to sooth her parched throat and overheated body. Looking to Callie, she nodded and was relieved to feel that she was being lowered into a wheelchair. The minute she was seated, she was inundated with people hugging her and patting her on the back. Seeing how emotional she was getting, Arizona finally spoke up and ordered, "Okay mama, let's go see how baby felt about the ride he just took." Julie looked up at her gratefully and her lips trembled as she tried to smile.
Once back in the room, Julie asked if Kim and Lorraine could join her and Callie waved them in. Her two friends each took to one side of the bed holding her hands while Callie stood at the end of the bed once again waiting for her turn to use the ultrasound. This time, as the image of the tiny baby appeared on screen, Callie freely allowed her mind to conjure visions of their own child and what they might look like, what it would feel like to see that picture for the first time. When she looked up, she saw blue eyes staring at her lovingly and knew her girlfriend was thinking the same thing. The two winked at one another, then Arizona returned to her task. Clicking the keyboard a few times, she announced, "Looks like it woke him up and got him a little excited, his heart rate is within normal limits, but you might feel some flutters, looks like he's big enough that you'll start feeling him kicking soon." Julie gasped and asked, "Is that what that is? I just thought my tummy was gurgling." Arizona laughed, took the girls hand and lightly tickled her fingers across her palm and explained, "It will feel like that for quite a while." Julie nodded and smiled brightly as she explained, "That's…he's moving in there…that's what I've been feeling." Arizona smiled and nodded, excited at just the prospect that she will hopefully be feeling that sensation herself in the near future.
Callie reached for the ultrasound wand and proclaimed, "My turn, though I'm hoping not to see any babies moving around where I'll be looking." Everyone in the room giggled and Callie proceeded with her examination. As she finished up, Julie looked to Kim and asked her if she wouldn't mind getting her something from the vending machine. Ever the faithful friend, Kim complied and rushed out of the room. Julie then looked to the three women and said, "I know it's really soon, but…is their any way I can come to the party? I know it's a surprise for Kim and she deserves this so much and I just…I really need to be there. You'll both be there and all kinds of other doctors and nurses." Callie looked to Arizona who smiled and shrugged then answered, "I'll talk to Paul and see what he says. If he gives the green light, I'll allow it but only for a couple of hours. Deal?" Julie reached out and yanked Callie in for a huge hug and exclaimed, "Deal. I'll do whatever you say." Both surgeons smiled down at the young girl, cleaned up their equipment, then left her alone with Lorraine.
As they reached the bank of elevators, they heard a gruff voice call out, "Arizona…ah Dr. Robbins." They both turned and saw a tall clean shaven man with short hair, wearing jeans and a t-shirt, slowly making his way toward them with a cane. Behind him was a smiling blonde. Arizona grinned and proclaimed, "Bill? Is that you?" The former soldier blushed slightly and nodded, "Yes ma'am, I was just on my way to therapy when I saw you and I just…I needed to say thank you. What you said, it really opened my eyes. I asked to see a therapist the next day." Arizona tilted her head and asked sincerely, "How are you doing?" The man looked down at his prosthetic leg, sighed, and responded, "Some days are hell, others are hell on earth, but I'm here and I'm alive and I have my wife to remind me why I needed to fight." Arizona nodded and often wished she had someone like her to kick her own ass in the very beginning.
Arizona reached out and touched his arm as she assured, "I know it doesn't feel like it, but it will get better, things will get easier, and some days, you'll forget it's there, or…not there." She rubbed her backside and joked, "Usually in the middle of the night when you pop out of bed to run to the bathroom…but…" The man laughed and asked, "Any other words of wisdom for me?" Arizona looked to Callie and responded, "Keep letting Crystal in, talk to her about how you feel and let her talk and REALLY listen when she talks. Celebrate everything, the first step you take without the cane, the first time you walk for a long period of time without pain, your first day back at work, celebrate it all, enjoy your second chance and don't for one second believe there is something you can't do. It might take longer but be grateful for the fact that you have the time and the breath in your lungs to do it." The man nodded then noticed how close the two women were standing and commented, "Speaking of second chances, can I assume you have given each other one?" Arizona looked back at Callie and they smiled softly at one another, then Callie responded, "We have. It was a long road, but we are stronger than ever." Bill nodded, extended his hand to both surgeons, congratulated them, thanked them again, then turned to take his wife's hand as they continued down the hall.
Finally stepping into the elevator and seeing it was empty, Callie pulled Arizona into her arms and connected their lips together in a long loving kiss. Both women were a little dizzy when the bell dinged indicating they had reached their floor. Stepping off, Callie asked, "Do you have a few minutes for a cup of coffee?" Arizona pouted and shook her head as she explained, "I need to get back and finish up our plan for…OH!" Callie watched as Arizona's facial expression turned from sad to excited and she continued, "We invited other fetal surgeons and specialists to come out for a few days, visit the center and advise us on anything we may not have thought of and Addie is one of them. She agreed to come out and will be calling me back later with some dates that work for her. I figured she'd have called you by now. Maybe you can convince her to come out for the 4th?" Callie was thrilled to hear she'd be seeing one of her dear friends, becoming excited herself, she suggested, "Maybe I'll give her a call and see if I can convince her." Arizona nodded and could read the unasked question in her eyes. Stepping closer, she looked around, took both of Callie's hands and lowered her voice as she offered, "You can tell her, maybe she can run all the initial tests herself and work on getting Mark's gift sent out here and prepared for insemination." Callie was nearly coming out of her skin as she asked, "Really?" Arizona brushed their lips together and smiled brightly as she agreed, "Really. We want to get the ball rolling and since she will be coming anyway, we might as well tell her about it now." Callie pulled Arizona into a tight hug and the two clung to one another not caring who saw them.
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Callie sat down behind her desk, pulled out her phone, looked at the time and realized Addie would probably be taking her lunch right about now. Opening her contacts she clicked on one of the first names on the list and her body buzzed with excitement. Even though it had been a few years since they'd seen one another, they spoke frequently and their friendship stayed strong. She knew though, this excitement was for a completely different reason. Just as she was about to hang up, she heard "Callie Torres, as I live and breathe!" The brunette smiled at the phone and responded, "Hey Addie, a little birdy told me you might be coming up this way." The redhead on the other end of the line smirked as she asked, "A birdy or a Robbins?" Callie chuckled at the small play on words and replied, "The Robbins of course, so, when were you thinking of coming?" Addison replied, "I actually just sat down to look at my calendar, I'm free all next week because the boys decided to take a camping trip for the holiday and if it doesn't involve a hotel or a hairdryer, I'm out. But I wasn't sure how that would work out since I'm not sure if they were taking time off at the center." Callie smiled excitedly and responded, "They are taking the day of and the day after. That works out great actually because we are having a big 4th of July party and we'd love to have you join us. You can stay in our spare room." Auburn eyebrows knitted together at the use of 'we'. As far as Addison knew, Callie wasn't seeing anyone and she didn't know how she felt about coming out as Arizona's guest and spending her time with Callie and her new girlfriend or boyfriend. It almost seemed as if it was in poor taste. Taking a deep breath, Addison tried to remain neutral, Callie was one of her closest friends, but since Arizona took up fetal medicine, she had become a good friend as well. Finally she responded, "I really appreciate the offer Callie, I do, but Robbins may have other plans for accommodations for me and since I am coming out on the center's dime…"
Callie furrowed her brow, she thought her friend would jump at the chance to stay with them, then as her words caught up to her, it dawned on her that Addison didn't know she and Arizona were back together, nobody in their group of friends knew. Callie let out a huge laugh and replied, "Addie, Arizona suggested it, we…ah…we're back together and we also want to talk to you about something else." Addison put her hand over her heart and breathed out a sigh of relief, "Oh thank God because I was dreading being caught in between you two. I'm so happy for you both Cal, so tell me how this all came about." Addison dug into her lunch and listened as Callie told her all about their reconciliation. Smiling brightly, she assumed, "So I can only guess how I come into play in this whole story. Have you decided to have another baby?" Callie's entire face lit up and she squealed, "YES!" Addison was thrilled for her friends, she knew they had been through hell and back and like many others, she was convinced it was never a matter of if the two would reconcile but when.
Putting on her doctor hat she explained, "Well you know how this goes since you've done it before, without my knowledge or assistance, I might add. But you need to find a donor, decide on a start date, figure out how you want to do it and all that." Callie smiled and rattled off, "IUI at least twice before we try IVF, her next cycle, and we have a donor which is where we really need your assistance." Addison nearly choked on her water and replied, "Wow, um, okay, you've really thought this through. Is it a live donor, someone you know?" Callie ran her hand across the back of her neck and replied nervously, "No and yes, actually, it's umm, it's a long story, but we just found out that Mark had left us…he had been donating sperm at Seattle Cryobank in our names since shortly after Sofia was born." Addison sat back in her seat and mumbled, "Well I'll be damned." Callie wasn't sure if she was supposed to hear her friend or not but wondered if she knew something she wasn't saying. She shook the notion from her head and went through the entire story of finding the box from Mark and the letter he wrote to Arizona then confided, "I have no idea what went on, I mean they were at each other's throats the whole pregnancy, then after the accident you'd think they were the ones who had the kid together. Then there's this phrase that kept coming up, you're a mom and I'm a dad…or something like that and he said she said something that made him think and she would know what it was." Addison let out a deep breath, she thought for certain someone would have told Callie about the fight between Mark and Arizona by now.
Hearing nothing but silence on the other line, Callie was convinced her friend knew something and accused, "You know something you're not telling me." Addison sighed heavily and asked, "Have you asked her Cal? I mean, I think this is something you need to discuss with Arizona." Callie huffed in frustration and responded, "Addie, she hasn't told me in 8 years and even after the letter, she never offered to explain. I just, she was so broken at seeing his final good-bye last night, I've never seen her like that and I couldn't ask…I just need to understand." Addison put her hand over her face and rubbed at her eyes, finally she said, "Okay, I get it. I'll tell you, but I'm warning you hon, it got ugly. When you were in triage, Fields didn't stop the contractions and failed to give the baby the steroids she needed to mature her lungs. When Richard asked her what her plan was, she admitted she was in over her head and that's when they called me in." Callie nodded and hummed; she knew that part. Addison continued, "The problem was your entire body was failing and you barely had enough blood to hold on for yourself, let alone keep the baby alive. We knew in order to save the baby, we had to save you, but to save you, it would…Sofia would have to be…" She trailed off; she didn't want to finish that sentence. She heard Callie's gasp of understanding what she meant and continued, "We, all the surgeons were fighting and screaming trying to figure out the best course of action. Finally, Bailey presented the scenario to Robbins and Mark. Arizona was your proxy and she was adamant that we keep the baby alive, she said if you woke up and there was no baby you would be destroyed, you wouldn't have any kind of life. Since Mark was the father, they had to listen to him too and he…" Callie closed her eyes and felt the bile rise in her throat, she knew what was coming, at least she thought she knew, what she heard was far worse.
Addison nearly whispered, "He said at least you would be alive and asked why we were even discussing the baby, we needed to focus on you. They got into a screaming match and Arizona claimed this was her and you and she said you were keeping the baby. He said…Mark said this was his family and she was nothing, she didn't have a say…he said you'd just screw again and make another baby. More words were thrown about and she told him that he was just a sperm donor." Callie was nauseous, she could taste the salt from her tears on her lips. She was sick and she was livid, if Mark were alive, God bless his soul, she'd kill him with her bare hands. Addison continued softly, "Any time anyone tried to talk to them, he would just talk over her and wouldn't let her speak. She just shut herself in your room, curled up in a ball on the chair and would only talk to you. She wouldn't let anyone tend to her wounds, touch her, go near her." "She always did that; it was her way of coping." Callie cut in. Addison realized that now then continued, "You decided for us and coded. You just kept coding and it was my decision to take the baby when they couldn't get you stable. Fields and Karev were fumbling and Arizona stepped in and took over, within seconds she had Sofia breathing. It was the strangest thing, as she was talking, giving orders, your heart rate kept rising, almost like you could hear her, the minute she cried she had a heartbeat, yours came back nice and strong too. She was right, it was you and her and the baby and you wouldn't have lived without either of them. After they brought you up, I heard him apologize to her, he said he was out of line and said, 'You're a mom, I'm a dad' after that, they were a team and nothing else was said."
Callie sniffled, so much made sense to her now. She still didn't understand one thing and said, "That place is gossip central, how did I never hear about this? It's like it was the cone of silence or something." Addison laughed and explained, "Bailey swore us all to secrecy, she said if you found out what Sloan said, you'd kill him if it didn't kill you. She said if they wanted you to know, they'd tell you in their own time and in their own way." Callie laughed then asked, "So what's your penance?" Addison replied, "If she finds out it was me who told, I have scut for the rest of my life." Both of them laughed then and when they quieted down, Addison said seriously, "She's always fought for you, for your happiness, I'm really happy you are together and I'd be honored to stay with you both and help you make a baby." Callie smiled through her tears and responded, "Thanks Ads, and thanks for telling me." Addie cringed and said, "Can you ah, just hide any loose bricks while I'm there?" Callie chuckled and answered, "Will do. Call Arizona and let her know of your plans. She will be thrilled."
The two old friends finished their good-byes and Callie tossed her phone on her desk, leaned back in her chair and thought about everything her friend just told her. She was literally kicking herself because she knew she had done the same thing to Arizona, made her feel like nothing. They discussed it, she apologized, but she had no doubts that her actions cut deeper than Mark's words ever could. She just couldn't believe how all this time had passed and neither of them brought it up. Obviously they were ashamed of their behavior, at least Mark should have been. She chuckled when she thought about Arizona calling him a sperm donor and how that argument led to this, to them having another of Mark's kids. She wasn't sure if she should tell Arizona she knew. In her heart, she didn't want to keep it from her, but in her defense, Arizona had kept it from her all this time for a reason. She went into the bathroom in her office, washed her face and decided to continue with her rounds and try to put it out of her mind for now. But before she did that, she sent a text off to Arizona.
ME: I love you. You are my everything.
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Arizona sat at her desk going over the orders that were made by their new administrative assistant and charge nurse. Fortunately, both of them had vacation time, gave their two weeks' notice, took their vacations and started their new jobs right away. Looking at how thorough and well organized the orders were, she was grateful and relieved they made the right choice in hiring them. Pulling up the office supply website, she started inputting the information when her phone rang out with Callie's text tone. Picking up her phone immediately, she read the text and thought nothing of it and responded in kind.
ME: I love you too and am so excited about our future together.
As she started inputting the order, her office phone rang and she picked it up greeting, "Robbins-Herman Center, this is Dr. Robbins speaking." She heard a loud familiar laugh then, "Wow! That's a mouthful." Recognizing Addison's voice immediately she replied, "Yeah, I need to work on that. So do you have some dates for me? Did Callie get ahold of you?" Addison laughed and responded, "Yeah, she kept saying 'we' would love to have you and you can stay with 'us' and I turned down her invitation at first because I thought it would be in poor taste to come out here for you and stay with Callie and her 'girlfriend'?" Arizona furrowed her brow in confusion then she said, "Oh…ohhhh you haven't talked to her since I moved to New York!" Addison laughed and replied, "Nope." Arizona laughed as well and answered, "Well I appreciate your diplomacy, but she was speaking on behalf of both of us, so what did you decide?" Addison filled her in about her plan for coming in next week and was assured they would be open to walk through the facility and sit down with some members of staff and even agreed to sit in on a few interviews.
When they got the business stuff out of the way, Arizona bit her lip and asked, "So did Callie, uh…did she ask you about the other thing?" Addison smiled and could hear her friend's nervousness in the tremor of her voice. Arizona hated asking for favors or help of any kind. Chuckling, she teased, "About coming out and knocking you up?" Arizona laughed and shook her head, she should have known the redhead would give her a hard time and responded, "Yeah, about that. It's just, with the previous miscarriage, the amputation, my age and all, I know there are some obstacles and we want the best chance we can get and you are the best." Addison laughed and responded, "No need to butter me up. I'm thrilled that you asked. I'm guessing since this just came about yesterday, you haven't had any work up yet." Arizona responded, "No, I was going to make an appointment with Callie's OB, but I'd rather you did it all." Addison replied, "Okay, you know the blood tests that I need, see if Callie's lab can run them and get that all taken care of. Do you have any equipment yet?" Arizona responded, "It's coming in slowly, but Cal has a top of the line ultrasound machine and I'm sure we can get a transducer for it if she doesn't have one for some weird reason." Addison chuckled and offered, "Cal said you wanted to try IUI first so I'll write the scripts for Clomid and were you thinking a trigger as well?" Arizona nodded though she knew she couldn't be seen and responded, "I'd like Pregnyl also yes. How do we go about transferring the goods?" Addison chuckled and answered, "I'll call the Cryobank closest to you, tell them what we need and work on getting it all transferred. Cal mentioned I'll need documentation from both of you so if you want to send me scans of your ID's and the paperwork, I'll take care of it all before I head out." Arizona let out a sigh of relief and gushed, "Thank you Addison, this…it means so much to us." Addison assured, "It means a lot that you are including me. I've always been rooting for you two."
Before she could hang up, Addison knew she had to tell Arizona what she had done. Finally gaining the courage she said, "Arizona, when Callie and I were talking, she asked a lot of questions. She didn't understand some of the letter and told me she didn't have the heart to ask you. When I stayed quiet, she realized I knew and…" Arizona sighed heavily and asked, "Does she know it all now?" Addison swallowed thickly and responded, "She does. I'm sorry. I really figured she'd have known at least part of it by now." Arizona rubbed at her temple and responded, "Mark and I talked about it, he said he would tell her everything, but I didn't see that helping their relationship any and while what he said hurt and stayed with me for a long time, I knew he was just as scared as I was. We settled into this weird dysfunctional family and it worked for us and I really did come to love him, he was a great dad. Then after he died, I didn't see any point in telling her. I'm not mad you told her, I just…how did she take it?" Addison understood Arizona's point of view and responded honestly, "She was upset and you were right, she was really angry at him, but I think she understood why you both kept it from her as well." Arizona now understood the true meaning behind Callie's text and it made her feel warm all over. She wasn't nothing.
After talking a little longer, Addison promising to send details of her travel plans, and saying their farewells, Arizona quickly finished the office supply order and submitted it. Looking at the medical supply order, she debated on whether or not to start it now or to go check on her girlfriend. The decision was made when she heard their special knock on her office door. Opening the door, she was surprised to see Callie nearly in tears standing in the doorway. She quickly led her to the couch, shut the door, then took the taller woman into her arms just as the sobs started. "I…I did it too. The same things. When you miscarried, I just…I wanted to push forward, try again. When I…I never even gave you a choice, I never listened to what you had to say when I wanted to move here. I let my lawyer say the same thing." Callie said it quietly, but it was filled with so much anguish, as if she were reliving those events all over again, but she could see it now in Arizona's eyes, those words, they haunted her.
Arizona couldn't allow Callie to go back there, she pulled her close and said firmly, "Listen to me Calliope Torres." Callie shook her head and argued, "No, I did the same thing, I tried to take your daughter and I made you feel like noth…" "CALLIE STOP!" Arizona commanded. Callie looked at her and snapped her mouth shut. Arizona said sternly, "We discussed this, we shared our feelings, you apologized, you told me yourself I gave Sofia life and I am her mother. This…what Mark and I went through has nothing to do with what you and I went through. The only similarity is that in both situations, we were afraid to lose our child. Do you hear me? We will not revisit this; you will not feel guilt over this. Yes, both situations hurt me, but I am healing, YOU are healing me."
Callie was reeling, she knew Arizona was right and nothing good would come of rehashing it. She leaned her head on Arizona's shoulder, linked their hands together and asked, "You've really forgiven me?" Arizona brushed their lips together and responded, "If I hadn't forgiven you, if we hadn't forgiven each other, we wouldn't even be considering more kids Calliope. I've forgiven you and I've forgiven Mark and he's forgiven me. This was all in the past, we've agreed to leave it there." Callie smirked and asked, "Can I be mad at Mark? Just for a little while?" Arizona kissed her temple and responded, "Just for a little while." Callie took a deep breath and whispered, "You…you made the right choice, you did what I would have wanted and he was wrong, you were everything Arizona, even when I didn't act like it, you have always been my everything." Arizona lifted Callie's face to hers and returned, "You've always been my everything, even when I didn't act like it, you've always been my world."
Callie beamed and the two women brushed their lips together in a sweet loving kiss and held tightly to one another as they realized another door of their past had been closed even as it opened a passage to their future.
A/N: As always, thanks for your reviews. I LOVED your responses from the last chapter. I am researching as I go as far as the pregnancy is concerned, so I hope I get it right.
This was more or less a filler chapter to tie up some loose ends. The show never revealed whether or not Callie knew about Mark and Arizona's argument while she was in a coma and I always wondered how she would respond and if it would impact the way she treated Arizona in Season 12. While I have read stories in which this news is revealed to her, it's usually Bailey telling the story. I figured since Addie was there too and even tried to convince Mark to apologize to Arizona, it would be nice to hear her side of it especially since she will be involved in the whole process. I also tried to put a different spin on Callie's response. I feel this Callie would really take those words to heart and process them in relation to her own actions.