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 : Thank you thank you thank you. I'm grateful for the positive and enthusiastic approval from you all. To expressed the depth of my gratitude, here's a rather long and sweet chapter for my wonderful fellow calzona lovers.
As always, calzonaforever35 did an amazing work to fix the story. You rock, girl!
Chapter 42
A knock on the door pulled Arizona's mind away from the mountain of paper work. 2 seconds later, the door opened and there stood Joe and Walter on the other side, both wearing a nervous smile on their faces.
"Hey Walter, Joe. Come on in." Arizona stood up to welcome her visitors. And she had to try very hard not to laugh out when she took in the 2 men.
They were dressed formally. Walter had a well fitting ink blue velvet suit hugging his slim form, a thin satin grey colored tie around his neck with a matching silk white shirt. And Joe… oh Joe was wearing a salmon color dress shirt with a black suit. What made the blonde's grin go wider was that the suit was at least a size too small, the shoulders were barely wide enough to fit his broad frame, and no doubt that the bartender wouldn't be able to button up the jacket.
Joe looked down to his body when he was met with the mischievous smile. His face turned a shade of red and pulled on the jacket uncomfortably.
"I'm sorry, Joe. I just… I've never seen you two so… well dressed." Arizona bit her lips to suppress the smirk.
"Walter made me…" Joe glanced at his boyfriend on the side, who stopped him mid sentence.
"This is important. I don't want you to wear those dirty jeans and washed out T-shirt like a hobo." Walter pursed his lips and reached to fix Joe's shirt. "The first impression is important, and I told you a long time ago, we should buy you a new suit."
"I work in a pub. When am I gonna wear a suit? Dining with the Queen of England?" Joe mocked the man with a smile. He acted like he was annoyed but the smile on his face said otherwise.
"Hey guys, I have a surgery soon." Arizona hated to break their sweet moment, but sadly she didn't have much time. "You wanna sit down so I can explain it to you first?"
"Oh no, there's a big chance that my pants is going to split in half any minute. I'm gonna sit as less as possible." Joe shrugged and turned to answer Walter's scold. "I told you, the pants are too tight."
"Oh Joe…" Arizona finally gave up holding her laughter, glanced at her watch, picked up her white coat and walked around the desk. "Let's go then."
Walking down the hall toward the conference room, Arizona asked the men.
"So, has Callie told you anything about Maddy?"
"Yes, she did." Walter nodded. When Callie called the loft above the pub that morning, Walter was the one answered the phone while Joe was still in bed after a long night working in the pub. "She was beaten up by the father, and the abusive bastard killed her mother in front of her. Oh that poor baby…"
"Well, I'm sure the abusive bastard was Callie's choice of word, but don't say that in front of Maddy." Arizona chuckled. They entered the conference room and took a seat respectively. Joe let out a smile when his pants were still intact. "Janice will be here in a minute. But before the meeting starts, I need you two to prepare yourself. I don't want you to have your hopes up because Maddy's case is kind of delicate. It's up to the system to approve this application."
"But… how bad is she? I mean, she's not totally messed up, may strangle a puppy in the back yard or slit our throats in the middle of the night…?" Joe entwined his hands and rested it on the table. Walter put his hand on top of it, followed Joe's gaze to stare at the doctor.
"She would be disturbed, under the circumstances." Arizona wet her lips to ponder the answer. "We don't know how she feels about all this yet. But with proper mental care and most importantly, people who care about her and love her, she should be fine."
The two men shared a look. Arizona added.
"I know there is a lot to take in, and it's unfair to throw it at you two; especially when you don't have any experience with young children yet, but the love you give to the others, I'm sure you will be able to take care of Maddy." The blonde doctor went on after a short pause. "But of course you don't have to do this if you're not sure. It's just an idea."
The couple nodded slowly. Arizona walked over the corner of the room to serve them water, giving Joe and Walter a moment to think about all this.
Before the blonde went back to her seat, the door opened and Janice entered with a folder in hand. Arizona introduced the two parties and everyone sat down into business.
"I'm sorry to keep you waiting. I was talking to the office and getting the information you gave the agent." Janice held up the folder and opened it on the table. "This is an official meeting regarding the foster application of Maddy Carlson."
Janice stopped and waited for the couple to respond. The two men looked at each other, finally Walter slipped his hand into Joe's and they grasped at each others tightly.
"Yes, we would like to foster Maddy Carlson." Joe said to Janice and Arizona with a firm nod.
"Great. First I have to tell you, I can't promise this application will go through because of two reasons. You two are not really in the system yet, and Maddy is a special case, she may require a stable environment and a lot of attention." Janice flipped through the folder and pulled out a piece of paper. It was the application form that both Joe and Walter had to fill out. "But I'll say, with the countersign from the head of pediatric surgery of SGMW, you have a high chance of this application getting approved."
"You're willing to guarantee us?" Joe's small eyes widened. Arizona smiled softly.
"Well, I trust you and Walter aren't child abusive monsters."
"I hope not." Janice blurted out. She wriggled her eyebrows and laughed along with the other three in the room.
The meeting went on. Janice asked questions about the men's work and living situations, along with causal conversation about what they thought about children, and what they could offer to a traumatized young soul…
Arizona had to excuse herself because she had another young soul that she had to save, surgically.
Callie was holding Maddy in her arms while the two were watching cartoons in bed. Earlier Arizona came to offer them some Disney movies but quickly realized those weren't a good idea at the moment since most of them started with losing parents, so the adults agreed on the foolish Tom and Jerry. Callie smiled to herself when she felt the little body shake from giggling. A soft knock on the doorframe caught her attention.
"Hey Callie, can I come in?" Janice asked with a smile. Callie nodded, but she felt Maddy snuggle closer to her. Looking down, she found the little hands clenched tightly in the front of her top.
Janice walked in the room slowly. She approached the bed and leaned closer to look at Maddy, who buried her head in her temporary care taker's chest, avoiding eye contact with the social worker. Janice wasn't surprised by it. During the first meeting with Maddy, she had to tell the girl that since her mother died and her father was not able to take care of her, they are going to find her a new home. The idea scared the little girl and made her afraid to see the social worker.
"Maddy, nice to see you again. How are you?" Janice asked with a smile. Maddy glanced at her in the corner of her eyes, but quickly turned to hide her face against Callie's body.
"Maddy is doing great, right?" Callie answered for the girl, brushing the light brown hair with her hand tenderly. "We slept for a little while. And now we're watching Jerry use a big hammer banging Tom's head. Oh my god, look at that!"
Callie said enthusiastically, making the little girl lift her head to peek over to the TV. The two women shared a smile.
"So, have you met with Joe and Walter already?" Callie asked the social worker after Maddy's attention diverted to the cartoon.
"Yes, I've talked to them and they both seemed nice people. I think there's a very big chance this application will be approved. As I said, Arizona's word counts." Janice sat down on the chair next to the bed, putting her briefcase by her feet.
"Now what?" Still brushing Maddy's hair, Callie stopped her hand covering the girl's ear lightly trying to block her away from the conversation.
"Normally, we tell the foster parents to wait to meet the client until the time we passed the child to their care. But since this is a special case, and concerning..." Janice paused and looked at Maddy, signaled that the girl was the subject she was talking about. Callie nodded and Janice continued. "Her mental status, it's better to let her bond with the potential foster parents in advance. So I'm going to introduce Joe and Walter to Maddy."
"Ok... Then where are they now?" Callie asked. And when she looked pass Janice, she found Walter's head poked out and peeking into the room. She called out with a smile. "Walter, Joe, come on in."
Maddy gazed over to the door, a confused look displayed on her face when she found two strangers walked inside. Out of reflex, she tightened the grip on Callie's top again.
"Don't worry Maddy, these are my friends. They would like to meet you, see how you're doing." Callie smiled at Maddy, making the girl relax a bit and raise her eyebrows.
"My tummy hurts and I can't move my arm." Maddy held up her casted arm to show the new comers. She was never shy, and knowing the affable looking men were the friends of Dr. Callie's made them more acceptable.
"Oh my goodness," Walter faked an exaggerated scream and came closer to the bed. He touched the pink cast with a few fingers and asked softly. "does it hurt?"
Maddy pouted but shook her head.
Janice was happy with the exchange between the men and the little girl. She excused herself after a few minutes because she had to go back to the office and finalize the process. But she promised to come back to see Maddy and call the guys about the application before she retreated from the room.
As soon as Janice left, Maddy opened up more to the new people in the room. Especially, Walter who was so eager to please the girl.
"So you like bunny? I love bunny too!" Walter grinned and leaned forward to the bed from the plastic chair he was sitting by the bed. Callie and Joe giggled from the couch in the corner, watching the man and the girl's interaction.
"Mummy got me a pink bunny, and a blue bunny. They are brother and sister. The boy bunny sat with me in the car, and the girl bunny slept with me." Maddy smiled happily when she was talking about her stuff animals, but the smile changed to a frown in a second. "They are at home. And the lady told me I'm going to have a new home. Does it mean I don't get to see my bunnies again? Like I can't see mummy again?"
Big brown eyes filled with tears all in a sudden, Walter sat on the bed and pulled the girl to him gently, and gestured Joe to grab a box of tissue from the rolling table by the end of the bed. The big guy jumped up and took two big strides toward the table, but his track stopped half way with a howl. Everyone in the room froze and stared at him.
Apparently, Joe's tight pants couldn't stand those sudden movements. They tore open from the crotch to both of the inner thighs, and the outside of his thigh brutally.
Joe's face turned to bright red as soon as Callie let out a roar of laughter. But he was surprised to hear another laughter coming from the bed. He gazed over to the bed, there was Maddy with a large grin on her face while the tears rolled down her cheeks.
"He's funny." Maddy looked up at Walter with a beaming smile, the man smiled back and used a thumb to brush off the tears.
"Yes, I'm clumsy." Joe laughed sheepishly and handed his boyfriend the box of tissue. Then he caressed the tiny face with his big hand. "And I'm happy that I can make you laugh."
"Ok, Maddy it's time to get some rest." Callie rose up from the couch and went to press the call button. "I'll get a nurse to find Joe some scrub pants to change into, so he won't have to go home in ripped pants."
"They're leaving?" The girl pouted after Walter tucked her in. The adults exchanged a look and then Joe answered.
"I'm going to change my pants, but we'll be here after you wake up from your nap. How does that sound?"
Arizona was happy that she took Callie's advice, and caught a few hours sleep in the on-call room this morning because it was a really long day at work. There had been surgery after surgery since she left Joe and Walter with Janice at noon, and she was only able to check up on Maddy through Callie's text messages. She was relieved to know Maddy and the men were getting along well; and of course, she laughed out when she received the picture of Joe with his torn open pants.
After finishing another surgery at 8pm, she could finally call it a day and went to see Maddy and Callie. To her surprise, there weren't just the two girls in the room. Callie was sleeping on the couch with a giant teddy bear in her arm, and Joe and Walter were sitting by the bed reading bed time story to the patient in bed.
"Hey Maddy, sorry I didn't have time to see you today." She walked up to the bed and smiled at the girl, who broke into a smile though her sleepy eyes.
"Dr. Zona, I missed you."
"Me too. And I see you have some new friends here with you." Arizona pointed to the stuffed animals around the bed, and a pink bunny with a big bow on the head held tightly in Maddy's good hand.
"Walter got those for me." Maddy tugged the pink bunny closer to her face. And she quickly added. "Joe too."
Arizona looked at the two men with a teasing smile. The guys really went over board.
"We didn't know what she likes, so... yeah, we just got everything from the gift shop." Joe smiled timidly.
"I like all of them. But Callie was tired, so I let her keep Barry to sleep with her." Maddy said though a yawn, and she used the pink bunny to rub her tired eyes.
"Barry?" Arizona chuckled. "You already named your friends?"
"Just Barry, Dr. Callie named him." Maddy let out another yawn. "And she said I should name all my stuff animals so they'd know when I'm talking to them."
"Hey Maddy, you're tired, close your eyes and sleep, ok?" Walter closed the book and reached a hand to smooth the little head, Maddy nodded lightly, but she refused to close her eyes.
"Are you going to leave after I fall asleep?"
"Yes, but Joe and I are gonna come back to see you again tomorrow. Is that ok?" Walter asked softly, and he received a content smile in return.
Arizona shifted deeper to the room to give the men and the girl a moment. Also, she had to wake up her sleeping beauty.
Callie stirred when a pair of lips brushed hers, and spread into a smile even before her eyes opened. She could recognize those lips and scent with or without looking.
"Hmm... best way to wake up." She whispered, and reached her hands trying to pull the woman back for a deep kiss. But she was denied.
"Callie, not in my peds ward." The blonde giggled and pulled the woman to sit up.
"Right, I forgot. How is Maddy?" Callie rubbed the sleep out her eyes, and looked over to the bed. She found Joe with his arm wrapped around his boyfriend, both staring at the little girl with love in their eyes. Arizona mimicked Joe's position and pulled her girlfriend closer to her. They sat in silence for a while until Maddy was breathing evenly, and asleep peacefully.
Arizona looked down at the black haired beauty who rested on her shoulder, and couldn't help to chuckle when she found the woman had her eyes closed. She held out a hand to stroke the olive colored cheek gently.
"Hey Callie, babe, wake up. It's been a long day. I want to take you home, but I'd understand if you want to stay with Barry."
"No way. Barry is a nice boy, soft and huggable, but not as good as my girlfriend." Callie opened her eyes to smile to the blonde seductively and stood up to pull the woman up on her feet. They gave the men a look, they nodded and stood up slowly. With one last lingered gaze to the sleeping girl in bed, Joe and Walter followed the doctors out of the room.
The four of them walked toward the exit together. Walter was walking with Arizona ahead as he was asking question after question about Maddy. He already felt the connection with the poor girl, and he wanted to know the story about her. Of course Arizona wouldn't mind answering those questions.
Callie looked over to the big guy walking by her side. Joe was quiet and withdrawn, and Callie knew that look.
"What are you thinking, Joe?"
"I..." Glancing at his boyfriend's back, Joe said in a small voice. "I don't know if I can do this."
"What do you mean you don't know if you can do this? You mean... Maddy?" Callie widened her eyes. They slowed down their pace to keep a distance with the other two in the front.
"I've never been with small children. I like her, but what do I know about taking care of her? Becoming her parent?" Joe sighed. "Being a parent is a huge responsibility. Her father messed up, who knows I wouldn't?"
"Joe, I understand your concern. But you aren't an abusive guy, you have a big heart and you're the nicest guy I've ever met." Callie linked her arm with Joe's and leaned her head on her big brother's shoulder. "You took care of me for years. You're more than capable to take care of Maddy."
"You're a big girl and you're tough." Joe laughed lightly, making the brunette laugh along with him.
"Well, Maddy is tough too. Didn't you know she stood up for her mother, and pushed her father down the stairs once?"
"You really think I can do this? Be a father?" Joe stopped and looked in the brown eyes with a frown. Callie stood in front of the man, put her hands on the broad shoulders and nodded with determination.
"You're a great guy. You are an amazing friend, and a caring brother. I have no doubt that you would be a good father. But of course, you don't have to do it if you aren't ready."
"I am ready, I just... I don't know if I would be a good father." Joe sighed again. "Maddy had a lousy father. I don't want to do more harm to her."
"First off, you are not doing it alone, you are doing it with the man you love. And you don't have to be her parent. You can be her fun uncle Joe. Be her best friend when she needs you." Callie gave the shoulders a firm squeeze. "You can do this, Joe."
"Still, I know nothing about girls. I grew up with brothers, I date men." The big man mumbled under his breath while Callie linked their arms again and pulled him to move.
"Believe me, even a girl doesn't understand a girl." Callie laughed at her own joke, but Joe just stared at her. She rolled her eyes. "Arizona would get this. What I wanna say is you will learn day by day. And you have me and Arizona here to help you. When she needs a female figure, she can come to either of us. And if she wants to know things about straight boys, I'm sure Mark wouldn't mind being the creepy uncle."
"Oh my god, I have to keep her away from dirty boys like Mark when she's growing up." Joe exclaimed loudly, making the other two that were over 10 feet away from them turn and stare at them.
"What are you two talking about?" Arizona asked with an amused smile on her face. She and Walter stopped and waited for the other two to catch up with them.
"Maddy is 7 years old, Joe's already worried about her teenage years." Callie walked to her girlfriend and clasped their hands together. And she smiled at Joe, "You are so ready to be a father."
The two couples went their separated ways home after a round of kisses goodnight. Arriving in the apartment, Arizona settled in the living room with her computer, answering some emails while Callie went for a shower and got ready for bed. When the blonde entered the bedroom, she found Callie was already in bed, leaning against the headboard reading a medical journal. Quickly changing into her pajamas, Arizona slipped under the blanket and wrapped her arms around the curvy torso. She sighed contentedly.
Callie smoothed the silklike blonde hair tenderly. She knew after a long day liked this, the woman would fall asleep in a second, but she couldn't help but ask.
"Arizona, can I ask you something?"
"Umm...?" She murmured with her eyes still closed. "If you want to ask me how much I love you, my answer is deeper than the ocean and higher than the sky."
"No..." The brunette chuckled, but her hand was still running along the blonde hair. "I already knew that. I just want to know... was Walter and Joe your first choice?"
"What do you mean?" Arizona lifted her head to look at her girlfriend confused.
"To foster Maddy." Callie put the journal on the nightstand. "I know how much you care about Maddy, and when you said you had a crazy idea, I thought you wanted to take her in."
Arizona rolled on her back, and stared at the ceiling for a while before she sat up and leaned back against the headboard next to the brunette.
"To be honest, that didn't cross my mind, at all." She turned to look at her girlfriend and said slowly. "I don't think we're there yet. I mean, parenting a young girl. I love you and I'm happy with just the two of us at the moment, I don't want to share you with a child yet. And you're an intern. You barely have enough time to sleep, where can you find extra time to take care of a little girl? I wouldn't do that to you."
"So you don't think I can be a mother and have a career at the same time?" Callie raised her eyebrows with a lopsided smile.
"That's not what I meant." Arizona quickly pulled up her dimpled smile, and added. "I was saying, you're an intern, you don't have time to sleep, and you don't have much time for me. I want to keep you to myself at least for another year."
"Sweet talker." Callie rolled her eyes playfully before leaned forward to peck on the pink lips. The blonde smiled triumphantly.
Callie turned off the bedside light and the two sank deeper in bed. The brunette wrapped her arm around Arizona's midsection and sighed happily.
"Definitely more comfortable than Barry."
Arizona giggled and placed a kiss on the top of the head that rested on her chest. She wrapped her arms around her girlfriend tightly.
"You were great with Maddy though. Have you thought about taking Peds for your specialty?"
"You want me in Peds? Is it your way to say you want to spend more time with me, making up the lack of time being together outside from work?" Callie teased.
"No, just trying to put an idea in your head." Arizona chuckled lightly. "But seriously, have you given any thought about that yet?"
"Not really." Callie's hand caressed the fair skin under the blonde's tank top as she was thinking about it. "But Peds would be my last choice. It's too depressing."
"What?" Arizona stiffed and looked down to the woman half lying on her.
"When the kids are doing well it's delightful. But how many times do you come home all upset because one of your tiny humans didn't make it?" Callie kissed the bare shoulder, making the Peds surgeon relax and fall back down on the pillow. "I don't want us both coming home like that."
"Children are resilient. They recover fast, and survive worse." Arizona stared at the ceiling, recalling the many times that she witnessed the miracles happen. "And you don't want to miss it when a kid kicks it off and got back to their lives."
"It sounds tempting." Callie nuzzled up against the soft neck. "Fine, I will think about it if that means I get to work with you side by side."
"You better." Arizona stroked the strong arm around her. "I really need to find a way to rope you to Peds before the others, especially Mark. You know? He said you have beautiful hands and you will be good in plastics."
"He said that?"
"Yeah. He talked about with his look, Avery's sparkling eyes and your rack, it is gonna be the best plastics posse in the world." Arizona nodded slowly. Even though she didn't want to, but she had to agree with Mark. The curvy body of her girlfriend could totally be an example for women who wanted to have smokin' hot bodies.
"Eww..." Callie pushed herself up by her hand, looked down at the smirking woman with a grimace. "Okay, now plastics is the last specialty I wanna be in. I don't want some chick pointing at my boobs and saying she wants that."
"Well, I want that." Arizona reached a hand to caress the side of the plump chest playfully, bringing a bright smile on the brunettes face before she flopped back on the bed and snuggled up on the soft body again.
"You're not just some chick. You're my chick." Callie tilted her head to meet with the waiting pink lips. They shared a peck and then wrapped their arms around each other again, both enjoying the intimated coziness between them.
"So, is cardio still your first choice?" Arizona asked between writing invisible patterns on the Callie's arm with her finger tips.
"I don't know." The brunette breathed out nonchalantly. She didn't really think about that. "I haven't been in a real cardio case yet, Cristina was hogging all of them."
"Do you want me to talk to Teddy?" Arizona stopped her hand and waited for Callie to respond. She would do anything to make Teddy take Callie on the next case if that's what the brunette wanted.
"No." Callie chuckled lightly. "The last thing I need is someone knowing I have pillow talk with my girlfriend for putting me on a case I want."
"Are you sure? That's the perk of having a hot shot head of department girlfriend." The blonde cocked an eyebrow. Making Callie laugh at her unusual cockiness.
"Yes, I am sure, hot shot head of department." Callie reached a hand to pinch Arizona's nose lightly. "Besides, I am happy with the cases I've worked with so far. Like yesterday, I got to fix Maddy's arm. Ortho is interesting."
"Have I told you how hot you looked with the drill in your hand?" Arizona picked up the hand resting on her stomach, stroking the long fingers one by one fondly.
"No you didn't." Callie smiled. And watched her as girlfriend brought their hands to her lips for a soft kiss.
"I was so engaged with Maddy, I'm sorry." Arizona sighed, made the brunette looked at her in confused. "You were practically doing the surgery yourself. It was your first solo surgery and I didn't even tell you how great you were in there."
"You don't have to apologize, I understand that totally." Callie shifted to lay on top of her girlfriend, propped herself up by the elbows and looked at the woman in the eye deeply. "I know you care about your patients. And I've told you how much I love it."
"I have the best girlfriend in the world." Arizona smiled with her dimples showing, and looped her arms around Callie's neck. Callie took the invitation and leaned down to capture the waiting lips. But she pulled away as soon as their lips touched.
"Did I really look hot with the tools in my hands?"
"Smokin' hot." The blonde wriggled her eyebrows, smiled mischievously, and tightened her arms to pull her girlfriend back on her.
"I'm going to buy some IKEA furniture tomorrow." Callie said against the lips of the giggling woman.