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 can't thank you guys enough for reading my story, and appreciate the words of supports and ideas, those are the motivations to make me sitting in front of my computer in the nights.

Thanks to my supergirl calzonaforever35 for helping with this chapter. You are still the best, my dear.

Chapter 39

It was Callie's first day off in a week, and she had been stuck in the hospital almost all of her waking hours. But today at the crack of dawn, she left the warmth of her girlfriend's arms, and strode back to the hospital to check on her best friend.

Teddy had called her after settling the big guy in the ward last night, she knew Joe wasn't in any serious condition, but still, she needed to see it for herself.

"Hi Joe, how are you doing?" Callie entered the room finding the man wide awake, she sat down on the chair next to the bed and touched his arm gently.

"Morning Callie, what are you doing here?" Joe asked surprised. "I thought you were off today."

"I am, but I wanted to see if you were ok. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, I guess." Joe sighed out. "They did tons of tests on me. I had different kinds of scans and blood work done. Shepherd said there's nothing wrong with my head, and Altman said my fainting could've been triggered by my high blood pressure."

"High blood pressure? I've never heard about you having a problem with your blood pressure." Callie frowned slightly, and looked at the man with concern.

"Me either." Joe patted his boss/best friend's hand, offering her a small smile. "I just need to stay for a 24 hour observation, no big deal."

"Are you sure? High blood pressure may indicate…" Callie wasn't convinced. In the years she knew this man, he was as strong as an ox. Fainting and passing out, is scary serious business. But Joe cut her off.

"They already did a lot of tests. The only problem was my blood pressure, really."

"But did they find out why?"

"Nope, but I'm guessing it's from stress." Joe shrugged and looked away to the window. Callie raised her eyebrows.

"Stress? Was it because I left you to take care of the pub? I'm so sorry Joe, I didn't know." The brunette said hurriedly, her brown eyes already glazed with tears.

"No, don't be silly. Actually working helps to take my mind off it. I…" Joe returned his gaze to Callie. He continued after a sigh. "Walter and I are trying to have baby. The adoption papers are driving me crazy."

"You and Walter are thinking about adopting a baby?" A mixture of surprise and glee had displayed on Callie's face. She didn't know the two men were thinking about starting a family, but she knew it was about time. The two were on and off for over 10 years as she knew, and now, they were more stable than ever, having kids absolutely was the next move.

"Not just a baby. At this point, we would take any aged child." The man sighed again. "The more we heard from the adoption agency, the more stressful I got. Walter and I aren't married yet, we're gay, and my working hours don't make me look like a good fit to father a child."

"I'm so sorry. Can this be fixed?" Callie rubbed the man's arm again. "I mean, you and Walter can get married now, and about the working hours, we can turn the pub into a diner. This way you can work the day shift, you know; And a lot of gay couples have successfully adopted children, that shouldn't be an issue."

"You don't have to change it to a diner. I can't cook." Joe laughed at Callie's crazy idea. "Walter is going to quit his job to be a stay home daddy once we get a child. The problem is, the agency told us it's not gonna be easy."

"You never know."

"Anyway, the tension between Walter and I is getting hotter. We fought more than usual, even over the tiniest things." The big guy sank deeper into the pillow and sighed heavily. No wonder his blood pressure was getting high.

"Is there anything else you can do? Except adoption?" Seeing her long time friend, the man she loved as her own brother being so distressed broke her heart. Callie just wished there was a way she could help.

"We signed could sign up to be foster parents, but that would be as difficult as adoption, I heard. And there…" Joe paused to look as his friend for a second, and then he shook his head lightly and bit his lips. "Nothing, it's crazy and stupid."

"What is it?" Callie leaned further toward the bed, and clasped the bartender's hand in hers waiting for an answer.

"During a heat of a discussion with Walter, he was saying maybe we should find a surrogate mother to have our kids." Joe sighed again, and slumped his shoulders. "We can't afford to pay for it. To be honest, I found it unethical. How are we going to tell our kids that we paid their mother to make them? And we don't have any female friends would do that. It's just crazy."

Back at the apartment, Callie found her girlfriend was already up and sitting on the couch reading a book.

"I should be pissed that you left me alone in the bed on our day off." Arizona put the book down and tilted her head to accept the kiss from Callie when she came over to the couch. "But I knew you may have gone to see Joe, you're forgiven. How is he?"

"High blood pressure." Callie sighed out after flopped down on the couch next to the blonde.

"Huh! Too many cheeseburgers?" Arizona shifted her body, and reached a hand to fondle with the back of her girlfriend's raven wavy hair.

"He said it was because of stress." Callie leaned her head back against the couch, and looked at the blonde with a twitch on her lips. "I'm a terrible friend. I didn't even know Joe and Walter were thinking about having kids."

"They are? That's nice." Arizona ran her hand along the long hair one more time, and then brought the hand to brush off the few loosen strands hanging around the tanned face.

"It is, but it seems very difficult for them." Callie pursed her lips, looking at the blue eyes with sympathy for her friend. "It isn't easy for regular couples, let along gay couples."

"That's true." Arizona picked up Callie's hand with her few hand. "Give it time. They're good people, they deserve to have a family, and they'll be great parents to any child."

Callie didn't answer, she just nodded lightly.

"I know you won't have Joe to work today, are you going to the pub tonight?" Arizona asked nonchalantly, but secretly, she hoped to spend the whole day and night with her girlfriend. It had been too long for them to spend some quality time together.

"I don't have to. Lucy will be there, and I called Linus, they're capable of keeping the pub from being robbed by the drunks." Callie turned her head and stared straight ahead. Her mind was still thinking about Joe.

"Great, because I made a reservation at that new restaurant, the one Teddy keeps talking about. It's full of flickering candle lights and romantic music, you'd love it." Arizona pulled her legs up on couch, and propped her head up by an elbow against the back of the couch, while her free hand reached out to cup Callie's face toward her again. "I'm thinking we can go for a walk, or a movie before we go to the restaurant."

"Ok." Callie shrugged, and pulled up a small smile that didn't reach her eyes.

"But before that, I'm thinking we can do something we missed out on this morning." Arizona leaned forward to capture the full lips. She nibbled Callie's bottom lip and struck her face lovingly… but she pulled away after a few second of getting no reaction from her usually passionate girlfriend. "Where are you?"

"I'm sorry." Callie sighed. She turned her head to kiss the creamy hand on her face and pulled it on her lap. "I'm just thinking of something."

"What is it?" Arizona ducked her head trying to meet with the brown eyes, but the brunette just kept staring at the floor in front of her.

"Joe, I wish I could help him." Callie gave the woman sitting next to her a quick glance and then continued. "He's stressed out because of the whole trying to get a baby thing."

"But there's nothing you can do. It's depends on the adoption agency." Arizona leaned closer and gave Callie's shoulder a firm squeeze. "And it's not like they can go to a sperm bank and get the stuff they need. They can't buy an ovary and implant it in their bodies."

"It's not fair, right? They would be great parents." Callie let out another frustrated sighed. She shifted her body to face her girlfriend fully. "Walter talked about getting a surrogate, but Joe said he doesn't want to pay some woman to do that. It doesn't feel right to him."

Listening to her girlfriend quietly, something kicked in. Arizona pulled back against the armrest of the couch and looked at Callie with wide-eyes.

"Please tell me you're not thinking about the thing that I think you're thinking."

"What?" An awkward smile on the Latina's face told Arizona she was right.

"Calliope Torres! Tell me you are not going to agree on being their baby mommy!"

"I… Fine, it crossed my mind. It's Joe and Walter." Callie also leaned back to the opposite side of the couch. They were staring at each other with a whole foots distance between them. "I'm not saying I'm going to do it. But they helped me through a lot, you know. If they asked me, I'll think about it."

"No, if they ask you, you most certainly will do it." Arizona shook her head from side to side slowly. She knew her girlfriend would do anything to help the others, especially when it came to her friends.

"Arizona… So what, if I became their surrogate, it would be like what? 9 months? Not even a year." Of course she knew it wouldn't be that easy, but Callie was just trying to make it sound lighter to her girlfriend. She looked at Arizona nervously when the blonde shot up from the couch.

"No! It's more than that and you know it!"

"I'm not saying I WILL do it. Why are you so upset?" Callie gazed at the woman who was running her hands through her blonde hair furiously. "And IF, I say IF, I want to give a baby to Joe, it's my…"

Callie stopped talking when she met with the blue eyes, the rims were reddish and a faint layer of tears were glazing in the eyes.

"I can not believe it." Arizona bit her lips and stared at the woman on the couch. "You're telling me you want to have another man's baby?"

"It's not like that." Callie said in a small voice.

"It IS like that!" Arizona exclaimed. "We are together! You having a baby should be an experience of ours. The first heartbeat, the first movement, the first kick, the first time we meet them, the first time we take them home, their first smile, first word, first step… You are telling me you are willing to do all of these for another man! Who am I to you? Am I even in your picture?"

"Of course you're in my picture!" Callie jumped up from the couch trying to pull the distressed woman in her arms, but Arizona took a few steps backward to keep the distance between them. "Arizona, please. I'm not saying I'll do it. They haven't even asked."

"Callie, I know you! You won't say no to them!" Arizona pursed her lips to stifle her emotion. She was not going to cry in front of Callie over this. "The worse part is you would offer even they haven't asked you, and wouldn't even ask my opinion before you actually did it!"

"Arizona…" Callie tried again, but she couldn't form any other word because she was just shocked that the blonde would call her out on it.

"I… I can't look at you right now." Arizona clenched her teeth in bitter hatred, swiveled around retreating to the bedroom and slammed the door shut.

Callie was standing in the middle of the living room with her mouth wide opened. She didn't really know what just happened. She was just trying to find a way to help her friends. Arizona asked, so she voiced out what was in her mind. Hosting a baby for Joe and Walter was one of the possibilities... Ok, now she had time to really think about it, she realized how bizarre it sounded.

She looked over to the closed bedroom. Good thing was that Arizona went back to the room to cool off, Callie said to herself. She was going to give the blonde a few minutes, and then she would go in to apologize…

But she didn't have time to do that. The door opened and Arizona stormed out in her jeans and sweater, jacket on her shoulders and a purse in hand. She strode toward the front door without looking back.

"Arizona, where are you going?" Callie gasped, frozen on the spot.

"I need some air." The angry blonde answered coldly, then she walked out of the apartment and slammed the door, again.

However, she couldn't walk away for too far. The front door of the opposite apartment opened and Mark stepped out to pick up the newspaper on the floor. The two came face to face. It only took a second for the man to catch the sign of distress from the blonde's face.

"Is everything ok, Arizona?" He squinted at his friend, who was chewing her lips without answering. "Where are you going? Where is Callie?"

"I… I just need a walk." Arizona gave the man a bitter smile, and moved to stride away but was stopped by a hand grasping at her wrist.

"No, you aren't going anywhere, come with me." Mark pulled the shorter woman into the apartment and closed the door behind him. Arizona didn't fight him, she actually was glad to have someone to talk to right now.

She walked deeper to the apartment and sat herself down on the couch. Mark went to the kitchen to pour two cups of coffee for him and Arizona. In the meantime, the bedroom door opened.

"Oh hey, good morning Arizona." Lexi walked out of the bedroom, surprised to find one of her bosses in her boyfriend's living room.

"Morning Lexi, I hope I'm not intruding…" Arizona stood up from the couch slowly, she was about to let herself out but Mark stopped her by holding a cup of coffee in front of her.

"No, you aren't. Sit down and drink your coffee."

"It's ok, I have to go anyway." Lexi smiled at the blonde. "I have to work today."

Arizona sat back down on the couch and clutched the mug with both hands. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw the two love birds kissing each other goodbye at the door.

After the door closed again, Mark moved in to the living room, and sat next to the quiet blonde with a playful smile.

"So, what's the damage, Robbins?"

Arizona casted a quick glare to the man, then brought the mug to her lips for a sip, deciding she wasn't going to answer the question when he asked like that.

"You and Callie both have the day off. You thumped out of the door with reddish eyes… I bet you had a fight with Callie, am I right?"

With another angry glare thrown at the man, Arizona started to think maybe it wasn't a good idea to come in the apartment.

Lexi was standing in front of the elevator door humming in her head. She was a happy person, spending a good night with Mark made her perkier than usual. Suddenly she heard a door open and hurried steps coming behind her. Turning around, she found Callie rushing out of the door with her leather jacket in hand.

"Hi Cal…" The young brunette was about to greet the older brunette, but she got cut off.

"Dammit!" Callie cursed when she found Arizona nowhere in sight and the elevator was going down to the ground floor. She should've chased the woman the moment she walked out of the door, not minutes after she snapped out of the daze. "Did you see Arizona? Was she in the elevator? Maybe I could still catch her by taking the stairs."

The brunette ran toward the stairway, but Lexi called after her.

"Arizona's in Mark's apartment."

"What?"

"I don't know how, but when I walked out of the bedroom, Arizona was sitting on the couch." Callie nodded to Lexi as for an appreciation, and then she turned to run toward apartment 501. But again, she was stopped by the young woman.

"Maybe you shouldn't go in there just yet. I mean, she looks upset and maybe a talk with Mark could help."

"You think talking to Mark would be better than talking to me? Her girlfriend?" Callie couldn't help but to cock her head and stare at Lexi with annoyance. The look made the young brunette stutter but she managed to get it out.

"Sometimes you just need someone not too close to you. Let her talk it out, see things from a different perspective." The elevator arrived and Lexi stepped in. "Just give her some space."

"Of course I'm angry. I mean, this is a life changing decision…" Arizona waved her hands furiously while talking to Mark. The coffee in her left hand almost spilt out of the mug. Mark snatched it from her hand and placed it on the coffee table and cut her off.

"She didn't actually say that she would do it, did she?" After hearing the blonde talk about the fight she had with Callie for 10 minutes, Mark had an idea of what had happened.

"No, but she…" Arizona answered, but Mark stopped her again.

"She likes to fix things and help people, you know it." Mark leaned back against the armrest of the couch, crossed his legs and shrugged.

"It's not like coming here to fix your stereo or helping you assemble your dining table!" Arizona mimicked his posture, and waved her hand toward the stereo in the corner of the living room... the one Callie came to hook up for the man few weeks ago.

"I'm sure she was just trying to find a way to help Joe, and that was one of the ideas she could come up with at the moment. Listen, Callie is impulsive, and that would never change. But she's not irrational. She just needs to realize how crazy it is."

"How can she not know that? I mean, we are in a relationship!" Furious Arizona shot up from the couch and started to pace around the living room in front of the man, who just sighed and nodded his head slowly.

"You just have to remind her that. Telling her that sometimes her decisions will affect you as well. Not that she doesn't think about you, just… she needs to hear that from you. She dealt with things all by herself for so long, she made decisions based on what she found fit and took the consequences alone. You don't think she had more crazy ideas over the years? She just needs someone to talk her out of it." Mark was talking on and on, trying to sooth his upsetting friend, but he was wondering how much the blonde took in because her pace was getting faster and faster.

"What should I do if she's really going to do it? What if she tells me she values Joe's needs more than mine?"

"If you're thinking like this, you are far crazier than I thought." Mark chuckled lightly, and shook his head with a sigh. "That woman loves you more than anything. She just needs to know you don't agree with it. Talk some sense into her, she'll listen."

After few more minutes with Mark, Arizona finally calmed down and was ready to face her girlfriend again. Entering the apartment slowly, she found Callie standing in the kitchen, wiping the countertop with a rag. It wasn't a surprise. Whenever Callie was nervous or upset, she couldn't keep herself still. Cleaning was one of the ways to clear her mind.

Hearing the door opening and footsteps entering the apartment, Callie glanced at the blonde briefly, but she didn't stop her hand. She was worried and feeling terrible when Arizona left. However, the more she thought about it, she found herself getting pissed off that the blonde didn't stay to talk about it, but walked out of the door.

"It's your day off, you don't need to clean the place." Arizona said softly after getting closer to the kitchen so the brunette could hear her.

"It's our day off, we shouldn't have fought." Callie said coldly, refusing to look at the woman that sat down right in front of her across the breakfast bar.

"I'm sorry." After about a minute of silence between them, Arizona finally breathed out.

"For what? Yelling at me or storming out on me?" Callie turned around and started to clean the stove. The place was spotless but she just didn't want to face her girlfriend yet.

"For everything, ok?" The blonde sighed again. To be honest, she thought she was coming home to see a smile of relief waiting for her, a cold shoulder from Callie was definitely unexpected. Another minute had passed and Callie seemed unwilling to talk to her, so she tried again. "Calliope…"

"Do not Calliope me." Callie swiveled around. She threw the rag into the sink and finally met with the waiting blue eyes. "I was thinking of anything I can do to help Joe and Walter. It was just a crazy idea I had in mind and you made me tell you. Then you got angry and walked out on me. So what? For future reference, I should never tell you anything so we won't get into a fight?"

"No no no! Please don't." Arizona stood up from the stool and braced herself against the breakfast bar. She wanted to run around and hug her girlfriend, but the stone cold face told her she shouldn't. "I overreacted. I am so, so sorry."

Callie leaned back against the stove, placed her hands on either side and said nothing. So the blonde continued.

"Calliope, you need to understand… you make me feel things that I have never felt before. I get jealous. I become possessive. I wasn't like this before I met you. I didn't even believe in relationships."

"Oh, so you're blaming me for turning you into…" Brown eyes went wide, but before Callie could find the word, she got cut off by the slightly panicked woman.

"No! That's not what I meant. I just… it's all new to me, you know. Calliope, I love you so much and that frightens me sometimes. I'm just afraid that you don't know how much I love you, or that you don't feel the same." Arizona said in a cracking voice, her palms flatted on the top of the breakfast bar as she leaned forward unconsciously, she needed to get closer to the woman she loved.

"Of course I love you." Callie said hurriedly, and her face softened.

"I know, but when you make decisions like…" Arizona frowned lightly, and wet her lips to organize her thought. "For example, going back to Miami for months. I understood that totally, I did. But we are together, and you didn't even ask for my opinion. It was like I wasn't in your consideration."

"I… I didn't know…" Callie stood looking at her girlfriend with her mouth agape. She didn't know Arizona felt like that when she said she was going back with her parents that day. "I just thought that was what I should do, and I thought you supported that decision."

"I am not saying it was wrong, I'm happy that you got the time to spend with your family, I really am. It just… I don't know, I kind of felt like I was being left out. And then the thing with Wilson? That was another point to me that you value your friends and family more than me." Arizona twitched her lips to a bitter smile, her eyes never left the warm chocolate eyes.

"Oh god, I didn't think you would mind." Callie breathed out, she really had no idea. Slowly, she walked around the kitchen island and stood next to the blonde. "I would've never taken the fall for Jo if I knew you would be upset about it."

"Why would you?" Arizona chuckled. She pushed against the breakfast bar to stand straight facing her girlfriend. "Talking to Mark made me realized it. People tend to ignore the feelings of the one close to them, unintentionally. Not that they don't care about their loved one's feelings, but assuming that great minds think alike, why bother to explain it then?"

Well shaped eyebrows raised up making a puzzled look on the tan face. Arizona tilted her head and smiled lovingly.

"You assumed I'd agree with your reason of going back to Miami because you considered me as the other half of you. We are one. Same as you don't understand why I'd be upset if you thinking of being Joe and Walter's surrogate because YOU think it's the right thing to do."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Still confused, but Callie couldn't help to return a beaming grin to Arizona's dimpled smile. She picked up Arizona's hands with hers. "And I am not saying having Joe's baby is the right thing to do, it's crazy and I know that now. But… does it mean you're on board if I say I'm going to do it?"

"Nope." Arizona shook her head with a mischievous smile. "I told you, I get jealous and possessive, I want you to have kids with me and only me. We can talk about the pros and cons of surrogating, and I will explain it to you calmly, not to yell at you this time."

Seeing the sparkle in blue eyes, Callie breathed out heavily and pulled the slimmer body closer for a lingering kiss. They moaned in the kiss and hands wrapped around each other gently.

"It isn't necessary." Callie whispered after their lips parted. She brought a hand to tug a strand of blonde hair behind Arizona's ear to reveal the smiling face. "I want everything you said. I want to have babies with you, and only you."

"Ok then." Dimpled smile on full display. A hand buried in wavy long black hair to pull the woman back down to continue their kiss.

A/N 2: It's a stupid fight, I know. But every fight is stupid, isn't it?