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 know the Callie I portrayed in the last few chapters seemed too perfect to be true. But to me, that's Callie. She's caring and generous. She would give and give and give… Until one day she has had enough and asks herself, what am I doing? Is it worth it? Well, this chapter is the day.
Thank calzonaforever35 for the great help, you are terrific as always ;-)

Chapter 62

"Barbara, Nick said this is the last box for the kitchen. Where should I put it?" Callie carried a box in the new home of the Robbins.

Colonel Robbins was always a man of action. With the help of Tim and Mark, they had found a house and was ready to settle in their new home in Seattle for a little over a month; and today was their moving day.

"Oh Callie honey, you shouldn't have to... Leave this to the boys." Mama Robbins greeted the fiancée of her daughter with a big smile. She pulled the brunette in for a big hug after Callie put the box on the counter. "You had a night shift. You must be exhausted."

"It's okay. It was a quiet night and I took a long nap in an on-call room. I'm here to help." Callie flashed her future mother-in-law a bright smile. "What would you like me to do?"

"Yeah? Can you put the pots and things in the cabinets? I'm going to make some cookies. Nothing smells like home better than freshly baked cookies."

"Sure." Putting the jacket on the chair, the brunette rolled up her sleeves and looked into the boxes. "Oh, I ran into Arizona in the hospital. She wants me to tell you that she has a full day of surgeries. She can only swing by tomorrow morning."

"Don't worry about it. She's done a lot and we almost got everything settled last night." Barbara smiled sweetly. Even though they had only met a couple of times, she already liked this woman as if she were her own daughter. "So honey, how is everything at work?"

"Busy. I was on Neruo rotation in the last few weeks and I'm telling you, Neruo is depressing. We called time of death almost on a daily basis." Callie said with a childish pout.

"That's terrible." Barbara gave the brunette a sympathetic smile. "So I see Neruo isn't going to be your choice of specialty, huh?"

"No, I don't think so." Callie shook her head.

"I keep telling her that she should be in Plastics." Mark entered the kitchen in time to join the women's conversation. He rested an arm on Callie's shoulder. "She has beautiful hands and that smile of hers? It's the money maker."

"And I keep telling you that I have no interest of doing breast implants and sucking butt fat for the rest of my life." Callie shrugged off the arm playfully and took a step closer to the old lady. "Ask him how many breast implants he did in this week."

The antic between the two friends made Barbara chuckle.

"We do more than that." Mark exclaimed as he saw his protégé entered the door. "Avery, tell them Plastics is more than that."

"Uh... I don't have time for that." The resident squinted at his boss while balancing the seemingly heavy box in his hands. "Mrs. Robbins, where should I put these?"

"The den down the hall, Daniel is in there." Barbara waved her hand toward the hall and smiled to the helper that got dragged in by her fake son. "Thank you Jackson."

"No problem." Jackson turned around, and he said over his shoulder. "Mark, Tim wanted me to tell you break is over. He needs you to unload the lounge chairs."

"I thought Arizona told you to leave the old furniture in Baltimore?" Mark asked whilst taking 2 bottles of water from the fridge.

"Yeah, but Daniel would never throw away the lounge chairs." Barbara sighed as she started to stir the ingredients in the mixing bowl. "Those were his birthday present from Arizona and Tim."

"How are things between Arizona and the colonel? She wouldn't tell me but I sense that they're still... tense?" Callie brought up the issue that she had been worried for weeks. After the unpleasant family dinner, Arizona and Callie met the Robbins for breakfast at the Archfield the next morning. The daughter apologized to the father for her outburst and it was accepted. But it wasn't hard for anyone to detect the awkwardness lingering between them.

"You weren't here last night. It was horrible to watch." Mark leaned against the kitchen counter. Gossiping with the women in the kitchen seemed more interesting than going out there moving the heavy furniture. "I really felt bad for blondie."

"It wasn't that bad..." The older woman glanced at Mark slightly shaking head.

"Arizona tried to talk to him the whole time, and the colonel just kept giving her the cold shoulder." The man shrugged with a smirk on the corner of his lips. Callie was about to question him but a shout coming from the outside of the kitchen cut her off.

"Hey Mark, come help us. I don't have all day." Jackson said with annoyance in his voice. Mark gave the ladies a grimace before striding toward the door.

"The colonel still hasn't forgiven Arizona?" Callie looked at her future mother-in-law incredulously.

"He did, he did." Barbara nodded as she stirring the dough slowly. "Just... he's a man. It's hard for him to admit his mistake, especially when it came from his own daughter."

"I feel like it was my fault." The brunette went back to the boxes but her mind was else where.

"No honey." Barbara stopped her hands and threw a loving gaze toward the trouble woman. "If you're talking about the wedding venue, it wasn't your fault. Actually I think that's a really grand gesture from your dad. Daniel was just too stubborn to admit it."

"But still, he got so mad when we talked about it..." Callie mumbled under her breath. A firm hand on her shoulder brought her gaze to the older woman stepped closer to her.

"Listen to me, Callie. He was mad because... you know, he knew about Ruthie's brain tumor and everything led to it in less than 8 hours. He just needed a minute to process the information." Barbara went back to her mixing bowl with a heartfelt smile. "He has been a military man his whole life. Arizona withheld that from him just makes him feels like... he is not in control."

"But Arizona just didn't want him to worry."

"He knew it. But as I said, a military man his whole life. He made a promise to Nick's father that he would take care of Ruthie and Nick, and he felt that he failed them... He'll come around." Barbara shrugged her shoulder nonchalantly that made the brunette wondered.

"How are you so sure?"

"I've been married to that man nearly 40 years, honey. We had our ups and downs but he's always the good man in a storm." Barbara waved her spatula holding hand around. "The house is ready. Ruthie is going to stay with us starting today and Nick will wait a few days to move in saying that he wants to be closed to his mother. You and Arizona are going to get back to your usual lives and Daniel would think he's the one that made it happen. On top of it, Arizona promised to include him in the loop of Ruthie's treatment. Once he feels everything's under his control, he'll be able to relax and realize how harsh he was to Arizona and himself."

"He does like to have everything under control, and quick." Callie couldn't help to chuckle. "The realtor said she has rarely seen a deal go through this fast."

"I told you, military man." Scooping the dough on the baking tray, the old woman sighed lightly. "But I have to say, I was worried that night when the two of them were fighting. I've never seen Arizona stand up against her father like that. Normally she'd burst into tears the second Daniel stared at her."

"Now I understand her authority issues. The colonel is kinda scary."

"That's just a front. He actually is a big softy on the inside. You know what?" Barbara put the tray into the oven and turned to the kettle. "He has been in the den the whole morning. Why don't you bring him a cup of tea?"

"Uh..." Callie took a step back involuntary. She had never been alone with the colonel and even though Arizona kept telling her that the colonel liked her, she truly was scared to face the solemn looking old solider one-on-one.

"Here." Barbara handed over the cup and smiled sweetly. "He'd like to see you."

Dragging her feet out of the kitchen slowly, the brunette turned around and not surprised to find a grinning gaze following her move. She took a few deep breaths as she strode toward the den.

The door was opened but still, Callie knocked on the door gently. The colonel took his eyes away from the box that Jackson just dropped off, a small smile found the way to his face when he saw who was by the door.

"Colonel, Barbara told me to bring you a cup of tea." Callie put the cup on the desk before leaned forward to give the old man a greeting kiss on the cheek, awkwardly.

"Thank you, Callie." The colonel reached for the cup in reflex, and put it back down quickly because it was too hot to drink right away. The brunette wasn't the only one feeling awkward.

"So..." Callie looked around the room nervously. "Is there anything I can help in here?"

"It's almost done. I just have to put those pictures and frames on the walls." The man gestured to the box he was fumbling before.

"Oh, okay." Nodded slowly, Callie knew that decorating the walls isn't something that can be done by anyone but the owner himself, she backed toward the door. "I'll leave you to that then. I'm going back to the kitchen. Barbara is making cookies. I mean, I'm going to help her in the kitchen, not because she has cookies."

Frowning at her own rambling, Callie stepped out of the room as quickly as she could, but she was called back to the den by the voice of the colonel.

"Callie, just a second." Colonel Daniel waited until the brunette came back at the door with hands clasped tight in front of her. He knew why Callie looked uneasy facing him. As much as he liked the idea of the future spouse of his daughter fear of him, he didn't want to be seen as an unreasonable and rude old veteran. "Can you... um... can you apologize to your father for me?"

"Excuse me?" Callie dropped her hands.

"I was being impolite the last time we met. I just want to apologize for my behavior to him, and to you." The colonel straightened and stood waiting for the brunette to react to his words.

"Oh, it's okay, sir." Still not so sure of what she just heard, Callie hardly managed to stutter a reply.

"No, it's not." The colonel stated firmly. "He flew in to meet me and my wife and... I was acting inappropriate. We are going to be family, it was not my intention to ... make him feel uncomfortable."

"It's really okay, sir. I understand that you were shocked and upset. I explained it to my dad and he... he understands." Actually, he didn't. But the colonel doesn't have to know that.

"Thank you." The colonel nodded with a tight smile. "I appreciate it."

They lock eyes for a brief second and either of them knew what else to say. Callie saw that as a sign for her to leave, but once again, the colonel stopped her before she could turn around.

"I have a feeling that you postponed the wedding because of me."

"No sir, it isn't..." She tried to deny it, but got cut off by the seriousness in the colonel's tone.

"Callie..." The man gave the brunette a hard stare. A stare that never failed to make anyone flutter, and his future daughter-in-law was no different.

"It's just... So many things are happening at the same time and Arizona is really stressed out." Callie wet her lips before continuing. "She needs time to prepare for the board exam. And she values your opinion. I know it's gonna kill her if you don't approve of this wedding..."

"And you think postponing the wedding will give you time to convince me?" The colonel said as he walked around the desk to his chair.

"Or buy me some time to convince Arizona to find another place." Callie walked deeper into the room, sitting down on the chair by the desk as the man gestured her to. "Another place that you would approve of."

"You really love my daughter." It wasn't a question, but Callie gave him an answer nevertheless.

"Yes, I do, sir."

"Arizona told me that she has met with your father a couple of times. I'm sure he has already given her the speech. I think, now it's my turn." Piercing blue eyes on the solemn face stared right into the brown eyes. Callie could feel her stomach flip but she didn't dare to look away.

The colonel picked up the cup of tea and took a sip slowly. He knew the brunette was waiting for him to start but he just took his time, watching the tall woman fidget in the seat from the corner of his eyes.

"When Arizona was little," Finally, the man put the cup down and spoke calmly. "I always pictured her bringing a man home, a stand up man that deserved my little girl."

Callie sat up straight.

"It all changed when she told me that she liked girls. Has she told you about our conversation before her sixteenth birthday?" The colonel asked, and Callie nodded. "In the military, we have a rule - don't ask, don't tell. And I had this rule applied at my household too. Not that I don't accept my daughter, just..."

"Don't ask, don't tell." Callie finished for the man.

"I don't know anyone of her previous girlfriends, or her love life. She talked to her mother and her brother, but she never mentioned anyone to me until she met you." The colonel leaned forward, resting his entwined hands on the table. "There was this one time she came to us during holiday. The whole week she was moping around the house and finally we sat down with a beer, she told me about you, and that you went back to Miami."

"Oh, that time..." The brunette made a grimace. She didn't need the colonel to remind her how upset Arizona was when she went back to Miami for months.

"I have only seen her like that a few times. When she was 13, Nick had to move to another state after his father passed away. And of course, when Tim died." The father picked up a photo frame from the box and handed it to Callie. "The three of them were inseparable when they were young."

Callie looked into the photo. The little girl in the middle with a bright dimpled smile could be recognized easily. And the boy with a shaggy mane of hair and a cocky smile was unmistakably the man who was living in her apartment right now. And the other one, she just saw a couple of old pictures from Arizona once, but without a doubt that the little boy with a head full of blonde hair and a pair of dimples on the face was the deceased brother.

"Ruthie took this picture after the children told her that Arizona and Nick just got married." The colonel smiled to the memories. "I always thought that they'd make it real if Nick would stick around. Anyway, what I want to say is, that was the moment I realized that my little girl loves you as much as she loves her brothers. And you have the ability to hurt her as deep as her brothers did. As a father, I need you to promise me that you will never hurt her."

"That was the fastest I've ever seen anyone flip a fetus into position." Nicole Herman glanced to her side, where the shorter blonde surgeon was scrubbing out next to her.

"Thank you." A big grin displayed on the fair face from the rare compliment coming out from her mentor. The relationship between the Fetal surgeon attending and her fellow had changed ever since they had came to an agreement. Herman was going to teach, and Arizona was going to learn everything from her to become an excellent Fetal surgeon.

"Oh of course you should thank me." The tall woman turned to lean against the sink as she dried her hands with a towel. "You were a complete disaster when we started. But I persevered, and after all of my hard work, you are becoming a decent Fetal surgeon."

"Yeah, right..." Arizona rolled her eyes playfully. Other than the surgical technique that she had learned from Herman, she also started to learn and enjoyed the wry sense of humor coming from the older woman.

"So, you're going to your parents again, or you want to stay here, watch another old surgery clips?" Herman asked as they walked side by side out of the scrub room. "I have a bunch of videos that can prepare you for the next fetal aortic valvuloplasty."

"Oh, I can't. I mean, I'd love to stay but I haven't spent much time with Callie recently." It was true. Even though Callie had a room in the hotel for the both of them, Arizona didn't stay much in there. When she wasn't staying in the apartment helping to take care of Ruthie, who wasn't responding very well to the last radiation treatment, she was in the hospital overnight with Herman reviewing the study materials. "I don't like leaving my fiancée alone in the hotel room."

"Suit yourself." The redhead shrugged her shoulders, and pressed the button of the elevator to her floor. "Marry the work, Robbins. It's always there for you."

"No thank you." Arizona laughed as she reached for the Peds floor. "I rather marry the woman I love."

Arizona pulled out the phone as she walked down the hall, a smile crept up on her lips as the call connected after one ring.

"Hey, what are you doing?" She asked.

"Flipping through the TV channels with a journal on my lap." Callie answered with a hint of smile in her voice. "You finished the last surgery?"

"Yes, I did. And you're back at the hotel already?" Arizona checked the time, it was barely 9pm.

"Ruthie wasn't feeling well and your parents were kinda tired, so we had an early dinner and ended the party about an hour ago."

"How was Ruthie?" The blonde sighed. She talk to Derek the day before and the latest results didn't look good.

"Feeling chilly all the time. Mark and I went to get her a heater in the room, she seemed better before we left." Callie turned the page of the journal and asked hopefully. "So, are you coming over tonight?"

"I told you I am." Arizona smiled sweetly into the phone. "I'm just going to check on the few patients in the NICU. I'll be there in an hour."

"Have you eaten already?"

"Not yet. I'm thinking to order room service..." The blonde was disturbed when Alex passed by her. The guy threw her a curious glance before entering the NICU.

"You want the beef lasagna?" Callie was already out of the bed, reaching for the menu on the desk.

"You read my mind." Arizona laughed out softly, and the brunette laughed with her.

"Go finish your work. The food will be here when you arrived."

"I love you." The surgeon said wholeheartedly before ending the call, and she knew even though Alex couldn't hear her through the NICU window, the grin on her face was the reason the young resident was rolling his eyes at her.

Putting on the grown on after entering the NICU, Arizona threw a smile to the resident who was shaking his head.

"Oh get over it. You will be all lovey-dovey once you find the one."

"First of all, I am a dude. I don't do that giggling in the phone thing. And I'm not disgusted by your lovey-dovey. My idiot intern paged me back from Joe's because of an abnormal heart rhythm of this baby." Alex tilted his head to the baby that he was tending.

"Is he alright?" Arizona quickly pulled up the stethoscope and placed it on the baby's chest.

"It's still within the range. You know it's normal for a baby after a heart surgery." The man snapped off his gloves and took a step back, giving more room for the attending to check on the patient. "I'm telling you, the interns are getting more and more stupid every day, especially now the head of Peds is utterly incompetent at his job."

"Stark?" The blonde took her eyes off the baby and frowned at the resident.

"Yes, Stark. He's supposed to be on-call tonight. My intern said that he didn't answer his page, so I was paged instead." Alex wrote on the chart with extra force. "If I've known you're going to abandon the department and leave me with that guy, I wouldn't have signed up for Peds."

"I am not abandoning the department. I am just taking some time off from here, and I'll come back." Arizona was slightly taken aback by the resident's choice of words, but she knew the man was just frustrated with the situation. She brushed it off and moved to another baby. But Alex wasn't done yet.

"Yeah right, like you're taking some time off from Torres so you can play house with your husband."

"I am not playing house with Nick." Taking a deep breath, the blonde tried to concentrate on checking up on her patient. "And I am not taking time off from Callie."

"And now you're taking time off from him." Alex stepped closer and went on his ranting. "How many nights have you crashed with Herman in the last few weeks?"

"Alex, stop it." Finally having enough, Arizona gave her resident an indignant look and hissed under her breath.

"Right now that guy is sitting at Joe's pouring whiskey after whiskey down his throat. You're telling me it has nothing to do with you?"

"Nick! What are you doing?" Arizona was supposed to go to her fiancée, but after hearing from Alex, she decided to stop by Joe's first. And yes, Nick was there, sitting by the bar, hand under his chin staring at the brown liquor in front of him.

"Oh hey, you're here." Nick turned to the voice with glazed eyes.

"My god, how many glasses had you had?" The strong scent of whiskey on the man's breath made Arizona frown. She scolded him instantly.

"Uh... one or two." The obviously drunken man shrugged. The blonde didn't need the shake of head from Joe to know it was more than that.

"You have enough. Come on, I'm gonna take you home."

"Why? My mom is not there. I don't have to take care of her tonight. I can go out as I want. Sit down, have a drink with me." Nick reached for his drink, but the woman snatched it from his hand before he could put it to his mouth.

"No, you have had enough." Arizona wrapped her arm around the tall man. It took her a few tries to haul him to his feet. "We'll have drinks some other time. Not tonight."

It was not easy to carry a drunk across the street back to the apartment. With some miracle, the two arrived without anyone fell on their faces.

After dropped the deadweight on the bed of the master bedroom, Arizona ran to the kitchen to get a bottle of water and got a wet cloth. She sat on the bed wiping Nick's face as the man mumbling incoherently.

"Why do you have to drink like this, Nick? Ruthie isn't here doesn't mean you can go wild." Arizona couldn't help to scold again. She wasn't sure if the man would hear her, but the mumble quickly turned into sob.

"I am useless... I am not a man..."

"What?" The blonde's jaw went slack, staring at her friend with widen eyes.

"I promised dad I'd be a man... I stood there before his coffin... I promised him that I'll take care of mom..."

"Oh Nick..." Arizona gasped. She remembered that day. She was there and she vividly remembered the determination on the teenage boy's face when he said goodbye to his dad.

"I'm worthless. I didn't know she was sick. I couldn't take care of her..." The man crawled into a ball and bawled loudly. "I need you to arrange the treatments. I messed with your life and now... now... I need the colonel to move across the country to take care of my mom... My mom!"

"Nick..." Blue eyes brimmed with tears as hearing the words. Arizona didn't know Nick had piled up this feeling inside and her heart hurt from seeing her rock broke down. She quickly climbed on bed and pulled the crying man into her arms. "You are not worthless, okay? We don't mind help taking care of your mom because we are family. Do you hear me? We are family."

Soothing words after soothing words slipped out of pink lips as Arizona held the man tight and rocked slowly. Nick clung onto the skim body and let himself go. He tried to be strong in front of his mother but everyday, he noticed the old lady getting weaker and weaker and there was nothing he could do. Tonight, he finally got the chance to release his frustration. With every wail, he felt the weight on his shoulders getting lighter and lighter, until exhaustion took over and he fell into a deep slumber in the arms of his sister.

...!

Arizona stirred awake by the sound of the door opened and closed. Feeling disorientated, she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. Ray of sunlight coming through the curtain, she must have fallen asleep after comforting the upsetting Nick, and... Damnnit!

"Arizona, are you here?" Callie's voice ringing through the living room and the next second, she was standing outside the master bedroom. The emotions on the caramel face flashed from worry to shock to hurt to angry to stone cold in a brief second when she took in the sight before her eyes. Her fiancée, who was supposed to meet her 7 hours ago but went MIA, was in bed with a man nestled cozily against her, stubbly chin nuzzled her neck, arm around her torso...

"Callie..." Arizona shot up from the bed when the brunette turned around, disappearing from the bedroom doorway. The man sleeping next to her let out a groan due to the sudden movement but Arizona just didn't have time for him yet. She caught up before the brunette could reach the front door. "Callie wait, I am sorry..."

"For what, Arizona?" Callie said coldly, still facing the door. "For letting me worry about where you were the whole night? Or sorry that I found you in bed with Nick?"

"Callie... he had a rough night, I was just comforting him. He was drunk and crying and... I was holding him until he calmed down. I fell asleep. I am so, so sorry." Slipped between the tall woman and the door, Arizona tried to take the brunette's hands but Callie just took a step backward and shoved her hands in the jeans back pockets.

"You fell asleep..." Callie spat between clenched jaws, refusing to lay her eyes on the woman before her. "You didn't show up. I called your cell and you didn't answer. I called the hospital and you weren't there. I called here and no one answered the damn phone."

"They must have turned off the landline because Ruthie was a light sleeper." Arizona glanced at the phone next to the couch and quickly returned to the inexpressive brunette. "I didn't mean to. Alex told me Nick was drinking at Joe's and I was worried. I got there and he was really drunk. I couldn't leave him there alone so I took him home..."

"You left me alone." Finally, Callie lifted her head facing the blonde. Her face remained emotionless but the watery brown eyes were saying a thousands things.

"Callie, I..." The blonde stood there dumbfounded.

"Do you have any idea how worried I was when you didn't show up?" The brunette swallowed thickly, trying to hold back her tears. "You said, in your exact words, Ruthie was gonna stay with your parents tonight, and you were going to take a break from studying with Herman. You had time and you were coming to me."

"I know, and I planned to Callie. I really do, but Nick..." Arizona tried to approach, but Callie held up a hand stopping her.

"I've been patient, Arizona. God knows I have. You wanted to take care of your aunt, I moved out so you can be that good girl to your family. You wanted to pursue another specialty and I gave you time and space so you could focus." The brunette was on the verge of breaking down. She sucked in a deep breath. "All I asked for was the little time that you can spare me, the time that you promised..."

"Nick was drunk and he was crying..." The blonde stuttered out. She repeated the reason because she really couldn't find another excuse.

"What about me?" Callie asked harshly. She knew it was a low blow but she just couldn't hold it any longer, not after seeing her fiancée cuddled up in bed with Nick while she was worried sick. "Do I have to get terminally ill or drunk or cry in front of you so then you'd finally put me as your priority?"

"That is not fair, Callie. You know I have my hands full. I was just picking which disaster to tackle first." The blonde exclaimed incredulously.

"So you don't care that you're hurting me?" Callie lunged forward with fire in her eyes, making the short woman back against the front door involuntary. "I feel like a dirty mistress seeking for stolen time with her lover, waiting in a hotel room for a tryst but got stood up again because the husband didn't let her out of sight."

"You are being ridiculous, Callie. You are not a dirty mistress and I didn't mean to hurt you." Arizona shifted from her post so she could escape from the furious brown eyes. She threw her arms up despondently as she paced behind the brunette. "You knew this was gonna happen. You knew I was going to be busy and all and you said it was okay. You encouraged me to take on the fellowship."

"Because you wanted it! I am willing to stand by your side while you achieve your goal because I love you! I didn't say anything when you shipped me off to Mark because I know family is everything to you!" Callie flung her arm toward where Nick was sleeping. She paused as the tears finally rolled down her cheeks. "But you forgot that I am also your family, Arizona. I didn't ask much. I just wanted you to keep your promise. You said you would be there."

Arizona stared at the tear stains with her mouth agape. Was she really that boneheaded that oblivious of the pain she caused her fiancée?

"There's a limit, Arizona. And you just crossed it." The brunette breathed out. She threw her last words over the shoulder before pulling the door open. "It's funny. Your father made me promise not to hurt you. He doesn't know his little girl was the one who had that ability."

A/N 2: The last straw that breaks the camel's back? Not even close ;-)