A/N - And we've come to the end. This was never meant to be a long story, just a nice idea for New York. Hope y'all enjoyed it.
/ /
Arizona knocked on the door to Callie's apartment with a large pizza and a six pack of beer. The weekly dinners with Sofia had become one of Arizona's favorite parts of her week. It allowed her and Callie to continue to work on their communication skills while also focusing them to behave themselves.
"Hey, you," Callie said when she opened the door. She looked back behind herself before leaning in and kissing Arizona. "Been thinking about that since I saw you last," She whispered before stepping back.
"Any other thoughts you want to share before Sofia figures out I'm here?" Arizona asked with a flirty smile.
Before Callie could reply, Sofia ran out from her bedroom with a face full of tears holding her left hand with her right. She was grabbing tight to a sock that had splotches of red.
"What happened, Sof?" Callie asked as she caught her.
"I cut myself," Sofia said pitifully as she held her hand to her chest. "I was cutting out something with scissors and my hand got cut."
Arizona and Callie moved with Sofia to the kitchen. The pizza and beer were set on the island while Arizona took Sofia to the sink to wash her hand off and Callie went and grabbed the medical kit she had.
The cut was a little less than inch long, not very deep to the rounded flesh under Sofia's thumb. Arizona breathed out at the sight of it once the blood was washed away.
"What are we dealing with?" Callie asked as she set the kit on table and opened it.
"Three, maybe three, four at the most," Arizona said as she checked it one more time.
"I don't want to get stitches," Sofia said with a shake of her head.
Arizona gave Sofia a soft smile and brushed away her tears with her thumb. "You're going to sit in my lap and Momma is going to numb your hand and give you a few tiny little stitches." She left no room for Sofia to get out of getting them. "Then we're going to have pizza and watch a movie. Maybe even have ice cream."
"Will you stay over tonight, Mommy?" Sofia asked as Arizona walked her to the table so Callie could take care of her hand.
"She can," Callie answered before Arizona could. "If that's all right with her, I mean."
Arizona smiled and nodded at Callie before taking a seat. "I don't have to be in until ten tomorrow for our last series of interviews, so I can stay over." She kissed Sofia's cheek as the little girl, rested her hand on the cloth Callie took out of the kit.
"Remember how you and Jackson play with the suture kit sometimes?" Callie asked as she applied a numbing agent to Sofia's skin.
"He said that Daddy would be proud of my attention of detail," Sofia nodded as her uninjured hand held tight to Arizona's.
"He would be," Arizona said as she held Sofia carefully. "He would be proud of all of you. Just like we are."
Sofia chewed on her bottom lip for a minute. "You two don't talk about him much. Sometimes I try to remember him, but I can't," She said in the careful voice she used when she worried she'd be in trouble.
Arizona and Callie caught each other's eyes and neither knew what to say at first.
"How about after we have dinner we do something other than a movie?" Callie suggested.
"Like what?" Sofia asked.
"I have some of your daddy's old surgery tapes and a few old home movies too. How about we watch them and then look at some photos. You can ask us anything you want about him, alright?" Callie suggested.
"Really?" Sofia's smile was bright at the suggestion.
"Better than a movie?" Arizona laughed softly at Sofia's excitement.
"I get to watch a real surgery and talk about daddy. It's so cool," Sofia nodded.
When Callie was sure Sofia's hand was numbed, she explained what she was doing as she did it. She could see the fear in Sofia's eyes lessen and the wonder of it all take over by the time she was done.
"You're going to need to be careful for a little while with your hand but you'll be good as new," Callie said as she started to clean up the table.
"Come on, let's go clean your room up and make sure there isn't blood anywhere," Arizona stood once Sofia did. "Then we can have dinner."
Once everything was cleaned up, the family sat down at the table with their pizza. A beer for Callie and Arizona and chocolate milk for Sofia. They kept the conversation light, mostly letting Sofia lead as they both thought about the videos they would be watching.
"Why don't you go put your PJ's on, wash your face, and pick something out for tomorrow while your mom and I clean up," Callie suggested once dinner was over. "That way you can stay up a little later with us."
Sofia went off to do as she was told without a fight. She was too excited to see the movies to fight getting ready for bed so early.
"Do you know what's on the home movies?" Arizona asked as she tossed some napkins away.
"A lot of Mark talking and Sofia playing or doing something, a few of the three of us with Mark talking." Callie said as she washed the dishes. "I haven't watched them in years."
"I forget what his voice sounds like sometimes," Arizona admitted as she took the dishes from Callie one at a time to dry them. "I can hear it in the way that I know what he'd say. But sometimes I forget the timber of it."
"I can't forget way he used to call me, "Torres"," Callie chuckled weakly.
"He was such a big part of us, of our lives, and our family and how we functioned," Arizona breathed out slowly. "When he was gone, it all fell apart."
Callie closed her eyes after shutting the water off. She opened her eyes and heard the bathroom sink running so Sofia's had a few minutes before she'd be out. "I'm sorry. For letting him take up so much space in our lives. He was my best friend, but you were my wife."
"I forgave you for that a lot time ago," Arizona gave a tight smile. "I forgave him for needing you a long time ago."
Callie wrapped her arm around Arizona's shoulder to bring her in close. She pressed a kiss to her forehead before stepping back again when she heard the bathroom door open. She had so many things she wanted to make right in the past, but some of them just needed to say buried.
"We're good," Arizona said in a low voice before moving around Callie to grab them each another beer.
"Should we get changed?" Callie asked as they headed to the living room while Sofia settled herself on the couch.
"Do you have someone I can wear? I should get my leg off if we're going to be on the couch for the night," Arizona said after setting a beer on other side of the couch.
"Yeah, come on," Callie smiled at her. "You good for a minute, Sof?"
"Yup," Sofia nodded as she arranged the blanket around herself.
Callie grabbed the crutches for Arizona from the spare room before walking into her room to see Arizona sitting in her shirt and underwear on the side of the bed that was always hers. For a moment, she stood in the doorway and bit her lip before stepping into the room and setting the crutches on the bed.
Callie grabbed out an old Miami shirt and a matching pair of shorts and tossed them to Arizona before grabbing herself an old Seattle Grace shirt she got somehow and a pair of yoga pants.
"You still take the same side of the bed."
"Should I not?"
Callie turned around once she was changed. She crossed the room the room in three steps, a hand moving to either side of Arizona's hips as she leaned in. For a long moment, she just looked into the blue eyes she loved so much before smiling.
"I love my bed has a side for you again." Callie kissed her firmly before standing back up before she started something they couldn't finish with Sofia waiting.
"You have a side on my bed too. Even if we're usually here and not there when we're in bed together." Arizona licked her lips before taking her top and bra off to slip the old worn shirt on. It fit just as well as it used to. The shorts went out after the leg came off. She tied her hair up in a messy bun before standing and sliding the crutches under her arms.
The pair made their way to the living room. Callie slipped in one of the family movies first. Soon they were all tucked in on the couch with Callie on the right and Arizona on the left of Sofia. Their little girl sharing her blanket with them both.
"This is the first day you came home," Callie said as she ran her hand through Sofia's hair. "We'd both been in the hospital a really long time."
"Mommy started my heart," Sofia said while taking Arizona's hand in hers. She had been told that story more than a few times by more than a few of her aunts and uncles by this point.
"I did," Arizona whispered as she let Sofia hold tight to her.
Callie hit play and an image of Mark and she standing with Sofia in her arms came up. There were balloons on either side and a welcome home banner hanging over them.
"I was so tiny," Sofia said as she watched the screen attentively.
"You were," Callie agreed.
Seeing Mark so full of life with the same smile he always had for photos made both Callie and Arizona feel a bit of pain in their chests. They listened as Arizona tried to figure out how to take a photo before Mark finally had enough.
*"I'm taking over…"*
*"No no, oh no, I don't need your help. I don't need…"*
*"We have a kid together, Robbins. So, you're stuck with me and my help…"*
As Arizona came on screen and stepped next to Callie, Mark tried to figure out how to take a photo but struggled all the same. Before he flipped it around and grinned as his face was caught when he managed to capture himself. The video froze on his face.
Sofia didn't say anything as she looked at the image of her father on the large TV screen. Her eyes, like Callie's did, gave away that her mind was racing as she turned to Arizona.
"You talk to Daddy the way Zola talks to Bailey sometimes. Like she doesn't want his help but she always takes it," Sofia said to her.
"Your daddy and I were family in a lot of ways just like Zola and Bailey," Arizona said as she tried to put it into terms that Sofia might understand. "Sometimes we fought and sometimes we laughed, but we both love you so much."
Sofia nodded as she accepted the explanation.
Callie got up to find another video to put in. This was a surgery Mark did that she remembered not having too much blood or any major complications. Sofia asked a few questions as the surgery went on but mostly they listened to Mark walk Jackson through the surgery.
"He really was a great teacher to Jackson," Arizona said as the surgery ended.
"He was. He loved having someone to mentor like that. He hated teaching random residents, but Jackson and he spoke the same language," Callie agreed. She checked the time and saw how it was getting close to Sofia's normal bedtime. "Maybe we should stop for the night and watch some more tomorrow?"
"One more?" Sofia asked with her best puppy dog eyes.
"One more," Callie caved. She grabbed a disk that was just labeled with a heart and a year. "I don't know what this one is."
Callie sat back down and hit play but kept her finger on the button in case this was something Sofia didn't need to see. The remote fell to the couch below when she saw just what it was. Mark talking to the camera at her and Arizona's wedding.
"Oh my God," Arizona whispered when she figured out what they were watching.
Callie rested her hand on the back of the couch at the same time Arizona did so the pair had their arms overlapping on the back of the couch. They watched quietly as Mark spoke about a patient who told about his wedding day. How all the married couples were asked to dance and then slowly bit by bit couples married a year and then five and then ten and so on were asked to sit until only two couples together for sixty years remained.
*"…sixty years with the love of their life. That's going to be you two at our granddaughter's wedding. Callie, Arizona, congratulations. I love you…"*
Both Arizona and Callie had tears in their eyes. As Callie went to turn it off, she heard whoever was behind the camera ask Mark a question.
*"What about you, won't you be dancing at your granddaughter's wedding?"*
*"Gotta have a partner for that."*
*"Well, if you had a partner, who would it be?"*
*"Oh well that's easy. Lexie Grey."*
Sofia looked back and forth between her moms before asking Callie. "Who's Lexie Grey?"
"Lexie Grey was the love of your daddy's life." Callie wiped her tears away. "She and your dad loved each other very much, sweetheart. She passed away right before your dad did."
Sofia nodded slowly at the new information as she leaned in against Callie and wrapped her arm around her. "Do you think Daddy and Lexie are together in Heaven with Zola's dad?"
"I do." Callie rubbed over Sofia's back. "Your dad and Derek were best friends. And Lexie was Meredith's sister. So, I bet they are all up there together watching out for you and for Zola, Bailey, and Ellis."
Sofia turned and looked at Arizona with a question in her eyes. "Is Uncle Tim with them too, Mommy?"
"I bet he is," Arizona whispered with a lump in her throat. "I bet your dad and Tim are watching sports together and talking about how much they love you." She had started trying to share more about Tim with her, but Sofia hadn't brought her up like this before.
Sofia had another question and bit her lip again. "What was Daddy congratulating you for?"
Arizona and Callie shared a look as they tried to decide what to tell their daughter. Callie tilted her head as Arizona raised an eyebrow. Finally both nodded.
"Do you know what marriage means, honey?" Arizona asked as she ran her hand through Sofia's hair.
"Like Grandma and Grandpa Robbins?" Sofia asked.
"Yeah," Arizona smiled. "When you were very little, your momma and I were married to each other. And then things got difficult for us both, and we needed to put ourselves in a timeout, so we could focus on the most important person in our lives, you."
Sofia looked confused. "But timeouts end, don't they?"
Callie and Arizona shared another look before Callie spoke. "Timeouts end for kids. Sometimes adults have a timeout and still don't want to be together. And sometimes they have a timeout and want to be back together."
"What about your timeout?" Sofia looked back and forth between her moms.
"Your momma and I want to end our timeout and be together again," Arizona said as she laced her fingers with Callie's without looking away from Sofia.
Sofia thought about it for a moment as she tried to imagine it. "So, you want to be married again?"
"You know how April and Jackson sometimes hold hands or kiss?" Arizona asked. "They aren't married to each other, but they are a couple. That's what your momma and I would be."
"April always says 'not in front of the kids, Jackson,' when he does it," Sofia nodded with a giggle.
"Would you be okay if we spent more time together and sometimes your mom and I held hands or kissed?" Callie asked a question she never thought she'd be asking her child.
"Does it mean Mom is going to have more sleep overs?" Sofia asked.
"It does," Callie nodded.
"Is she going to sleep in your room?" Sofia asked.
"If that's alright with you," Callie laughed.
"Can I still come in and cuddle with you when you have a day off?" Sofia asked hopefully.
"Of course," Callie promised her.
Sofia yawned before she could ask another question and Callie checked the time.
"Go brush your teeth and get under the covers. We'll be in to tuck you in as soon as we clean up out here, okay?" Callie said.
Arizona and Callie just looked at each other when Sofia left the room. After a moment, they both had a fit of giggles at the conversation they just had before sobering up. They moved to the middle of the couch and wrapped their arms around each other.
"Our daughter knows we're dating."
"It does mean we can stop sneaking around so much around her."
"And she knows you're sleeping in my room."
Arizona pressed a firm kiss to Callie's jaw before sitting back. "Let's go tuck her in and go to bed? I might need to employ your very talented hands on my leg tonight while we lay down."
"You want a back rub too while I'm at it?" Callie asked. She got a thrill out of Arizona asking her to rub her residual limb without any provocation.
"I haven't had one of your back rubs in years," Arizona accepted with a nod.
Callie helped Arizona stand before they made their way down the hall. After making sure Sofia was tucked in and her night light was turned on, they kissed the already half sleeping child and headed farther down the hall.
"Back or leg first?" Callie asked as she walked past to bed to the master bathroom for some lotion.
"Leg first, back second," Arizona called while getting into the middle of the bed.
Callie came out with a bottle of lotion and sat on Arizona's left so she could rub the knots and soreness out of Arizona's leg. After warming the lotion between her hands, she started to slowly rubbing over the residual limb.
"Damn," Arizona sighed at the feeling of Callie's hands back on her like this. "I'd forgotten how truly good it feels to have someone else do this."
Callie smiled as she worked out a knot on the right side. "I'll do this every night if you want." She realized after a moment like it sounded they would be together every night, which right now sadly wasn't the plan. "I mean every night you're here or I'm at your place."
"I know what you meant, Calliope," Arizona laced her fingers behind her head while looking down at Callie's hands.
"I hate watching you walk out of my door at the end of the night," Callie admitted. She and Arizona's communication had gotten to a place she didn't fear admitting this anymore. "I hate walking out of yours."
"I don't like living apart anymore than you do," Arizona whispered. "We'll know when it's time."
Callie slid her hand under the borrowed shirt Arizona had on and ran her fingers over a small scar on her side.
"You know what I'm really excited for?" Arizona asked. "In the future if we buy another house?"
"What's that?" Callie asked.
"Picking paint colors and debating dark and edgy vs Easter baskets. Staying up until two in the morning painting before sleeping half on top of each other on the couch because the bed isn't there yet. Picking out which wall the bed goes on and then breaking it in after the movers leave. All those little moments that we can just enjoy without heaviness or doubt or keeping score in our heads. We have so many wonderful moments ahead of us, and it makes me so happy because it's us getting to have those moments together all over again," Arizona smiled as she looked down at her girlfriend.
"You say things like that and I'm not supposed to rip your clothes off?" Callie asked with a quirk of her eyebrow,
"How about you rip my shirt off and give me that back rub you promised and then let me thank you?" Arizona laughed.
"That I can do."
Callie sat up and helped Arizona out of her shirt. Once Arizona was laying down, Callie straddled her to give her the best position to get the knots out of her back.
"This alright?"
"Like I'm going to turn down you being on top of me."
Callie warmed the lotion between her hands before she started to rub over back lightly to get a feeling for which areas needed the most attention. Rubbing Arizona's back like this felt more intimate than sex. It was the little touches, the small moments of caring for each other, the way they relied on each other that had fallen away when things went to hell. To have them back felt like a spring rain washing away a bitter winter.
She used the heel of her palms to work out the knots before her fingers rubbed over the tender areas to sooth them. She worked wordlessly as Arizona laid under her whimpering at the tough knots being worked out and moaning at the soothing touches.
"Thank you, Calliope," Arizona said when Callie moved off of her to lay on her side once she was done.
Callie reached out to draw random shapes on Arizona's back. "I like taking care of you."
"I know I haven't always handled that very well," Arizona turned her head to look at Callie. "But I'm getting better at it."
"You're an independent person," Callie said. "And for a long time you couldn't be anymore."
"I still treated you horribly," Arizona said with a guilty look on her face. "The logical part of my brain knew you couldn't have been the one to perform the amputation but I wasn't logical at the time. I knew my leg was gone and that was what I focused on. All the anger I had focused on that. And I turned into a person I didn't know anymore."
"I know all about that." Callie leaned forward to kiss her shoulder. "About turning into someone you don't know anymore when you let anger take over."
"You saved my life," Arizona whispered. "In the woods when I was in so much pain. You and Sofia were why I managed to hold on. And then again when you gave Alex permission to take the leg. I don't think I ever thanked you for that. For saving my life."
Callie pressed another soft kiss to her shoulder. "I lied during the custody battle. When I said Sofia was the reason I fought to make it. She was a big part of it. But so were you. You asked me to marry you, and I fought so hard to be able to tell you yes."
Arizona swallowed against the lump that formed. "I felt like your wife then. I felt like I was a wife sitting at the bedside of her wife, begging her to live."
Callie closed her eyes but it did nothing to stop the tears from falling. "You were my wife, Arizona."
"Take your shirt off? I just need to feel your skin on mine right now," Arizona requested.
Callie tossed her shirt to the chair by the window before they moved under the blankets. Arizona tucked her head under Callie's chin as their arms around each other.
"I'd like you and I to do something," Arizona said from the safety of Callie's arms. The warmth and comfort helped keep her glued together.
"Anything," Callie whispered.
"I want us to file to have each other as our health care proxy. Because if something happens to me you're the person I want to decide. We're not married, and won't be in the near future. But we can do this without being and know that no one can keep you out of my room or me out of yours," Arizona said as she drew on the middle of Callie's back with her fingertips.
"Alright," Callie agreed. She didn't need to think about it really. Arizona was a doctor and knew what she would and wouldn't want after having lived through it. It beats her father having to try and understand or God forbid her mother kicking Arizona out of the room.
"We've lived through it once each, and I hope we never do again. But if something happens, I can't stand in the room and not be able to have a voice. That happened with Mark, and it wasn't pleasant," Arizona admitted.
"I know you and he fought but no one would ever tell me what happened," Callie said. "He only told me that you both tried to do what you thought was best."
"I called him a sperm donor and he called me nothing," Arizona admitted. "Because he wanted to save you even if it meant Sofia would be at risk and I wanted to give Sofia more time. He said if she didn't make it that you and he … he said you could just screw and have another one," she said as her voice cracked. "He didn't mean it. I don't think he really did. It was us at our worst, because we were both raw and hurting. He told me I wasn't nothing after. He was the first person to call me Sofia's mom after she was born."
"Arizona," Callie's voice broke as she held her tighter. "You made the right call. You made the call I would have made. You were thinking like our girl's mother. You were right."
Arizona broke down at hearing Callie say that. Her hot tears fell down her face as she pressed it to Callie's chest. She pressed kiss after kiss to the top of the scar there from her heart surgery.
"We were watching your surgery in the gallery. Standing there and watching you code and then we rushed down. I have never scrubbed in so fast in my life," Arizona whispered through the tears. She knew Callie heard about her starting Sofia's heart but she had never been the one to talk about it. "He nodded to me when Fields and Alex couldn't get her heart to beat. He nodded and I just took over. Because I am her mother and I had to save her."
"You did. You got her heart to beat," Callie felt her tears fall but did nothing to stop the flow. "You aren't nothing to her. And you aren't what I called you in court. You aren't Arizona, and if I could take it all back I would. I would. I'm so sorry."
They laid like that for what felt like days. Arizona pressing her lips against the scar on Callie's chest and Callie holding on to her for dear life. There was so much history that both had to and had already come to terms with that was ripped back open tonight. But instead of pulling away and both trying to handle it apart, tonight they held onto each other as they did.
"I want us to file to have the custody order changed," Arizona whispered after the tears on both sides had stopped. "So, we have joint physical custody."
"Arizona." Callie pulled back to look at her.
"Calliope." Arizona held her jaw in her hand. "We are going to end up married, and it won't matter in the long run but until we do, please let me do this?"
"I don't deserve this after what I did to you," Callie said with a fair bit of shame in her voice.
"There are a lot of things neither of us deserve after how we behaved," Arizona traced over Callie's cheek with her thumb. "And yet we're laying in bed together with Sofia sleeping peacefully down the hall. Let me do this. Please?"
"I love you, Arizona." Callie leaned forward to rest their foreheads together.
"I love you, Calliope," Arizona whispered.
Callie trailed her hand down Arizona's side before bringing her hand over Arizona's as it rested on her cheek. She leaned forward to press a tender kiss to her love's lips before laying back.
"You have to be in at ten, right?" Callie asked.
"I do," Arizona sighed as she saw the time. "I should get some sleep."
"Let me make you breakfast before you go?" Callie asked after the lights were off and they were back together in the middle of the bed with shirts back on.
"Pancakes?" Arizona requested. "You make awesome pancakes."
"Pancakes are doable," Callie smiled as she and Arizona spooned the way that used to.
"Goodnight, Calliope."
"Sleep well, Arizona."
/ /
When a pipe in the unit above Arizona's burst, the decision was made for her and Callie to move in together in early September. Her apartment was nearly a total loss as it happened when the people in that unit and Arizona were gone for the weekend. Instead of her moving to a hotel for the weeks that it would take to repair her unit, she bought out her lease.
"This isn't too fast, right?" Arizona asked as they unpacked the last bag of clothes she had to buy to replace what was lost.
"It's faster than we planned but you were already staying here a lot," Callie reminded her as she helped Arizona put the clothes away.
"Right," Arizona said.
Arizona grabbed the box of things she had been very glad to save. Everything inside had been in a lock box, she kept under her former bed. Tim's dog tags and his Citadel class ring, a photo of both sets grandparents on their wedding days, her wedding rings and the ring Callie gave her when they bought their first house, the necklace Callie gave her for their first Valentines day, some legal papers and some photos of their life through the years she never wanted to be without.
As she opened the box and pulled everything out to make sure it was safe and sound, she held her wedding ring in her hand and felt a wave of emotions.
"I kept mine too," Callie whispered as she came up behind Arizona and wrapped her arms around her waist.
"I still remember going to the jewelry store to pick our rings out," Arizona said as she leaned back against Callie. "We tried every ring in the store on, I swear. And then you pointed these out and they just fit."
Callie turned her head to press a kiss against Arizona's pulse point. "Does it still fit?" She whispered as her arms tightened around Arizona's waist.
Arizona knew it would but she slipped the ring on her left hand and held it out in front of her. Seeing the ring back on her own hand brought tears to her eyes. "Yeah, yeah it still fits."
Callie reached her hand out to swipe her thumb over the band on Arizona's finger. "One day we're going to both have them on again, Arizona. One day we're going to sign a marriage license and be wives again. We're getting closer to that point every day. Each and every day."
Arizona turned in Callie's arms and leaned up to give her a kiss. She felt tears in her eyes that closing them didn't stop. She was awesomely, wholly in love with Calliope Torres. She had been for so long she wasn't sure she remembered how she functioned without it.
"I love you."
"I love you."
Arizona looked up at Callie with a shy smile. "Would you be alright if we started wearing our necklaces again? Wait, do you still have yours?"
"I do," Callie nodded. "And I'd really like to wear them again." She pulled away from Arizona to go to her jewelry box and pulled it out.
Arizona slipped her ring off and tucked it back where it belonged for now. She took her necklace out and unhooked it before putting it back around her neck. It fell back into place with a weight that grounded her. She turned and saw Callie's sitting against her chest the way it always had.
"Welcome home," Callie said as she gave Arizona a wide smile.
Arizona smiled back. "Thank you, Calliope."