A/N: Set sometime in the not too distant future. Sofia is seven. Callie and Arizona are together, and never broke up.
Arizona Robbins burst through the doors of the small hospital, just outside of Ellensburg, trying to keep her panic in check as she frantically glanced around, looking for any sign of her daughter. She had gotten a call only a few of hours ago from the sleep away Girl Scout camp where her daughter was staying for the week, informing her that Sofia had fallen from the ropes course. They suspected a broken leg, so she had been taken to the nearest hospital. They had assured Arizona that Sofia was in good hands, but that hadn't stopped her from leaping into her car the very second she got the call, and it wouldn't stop Callie from following her as soon as her surgery was finished.
Unable to find her daughter or anyone from the camp, she approached a doctor who had just rounded the corner, "I'm looking from my daughter, Sofia Torres. Could you please tell me where she is?" The doctor pulled out his tablet to look up the room number, "Of course, ma'am. And you are?"
"Dr. Arizona Robbins. I'm her mother," Arizona stammered, attempting to hold her nerves at bay, though she knew she wouldn't be able to calm down until she was holding her little girl in her arms. The doctor paused, "Robbins? And your daughter's last name is Torres…?" Arizona sighed in frustration, growing impatient, "Yes. Her mother's Dr. Calliope Torres. Could you tell me her room num—"
"I thought you said that you where her mother?" the doctor asked, suspicion clouding his expression. "I am," Arizona stated firmly, her heart rate escalating, "Calliope is my wife." The doctor nodded with understanding, but he made no move to continue looking up the room number, "So, Dr. Torres is her real mother then?"
Arizona froze, her breath catching in her throat. She gripped her hands together, and tried to stop herself from shaking. Closing her eyes for a moment to collect herself, she opened them and responded, "Dr. Torres is her biological mother, but we are both her real mothers. I am her mother, legally. Now, please take me to see my child." Arizona finished, struggling to keep her voice level. She could feel a lump forming in her throat, and tears beginning to form in her eyes, from fear or from rage she couldn't quite tell. The doctor looked at her coldly, shaking his head, "I'm sorry, but I don't feel comfortable releasing that information to you, so if you could just wait—"
"Excuse me?!" Arizona shouted, her efforts to remain calm instantly flying out the window, "She is my daughter, and you—" The doctor held up a hand, "Well, not technically, and you understand—"
"No! She is my daughter, and you have to let me see her! She's scared and in pain and she needs her momma! I'm her momma!" Arizona cried desperately, a few stray tears slipping down her face. But the doctor was unrelenting, "I'm sorry, but I can't let you see her. You're just going to have to wait until your wife arrives."
He began to walk away but Arizona followed him, "No, I cannot wait until my wife arrives! We live three hours away and she's in surg—" The doctor stopped, and turned on Arizona so quickly that she almost lost her balance, her prosthesis slipping slightly beneath her. "Dr. Robbins, if you continue any further, I will be forced to have security escort you from the hospital grounds." Arizona froze; her lower lip trembling as she bit back more tears. "Please," she begged, "At least tell me if she's okay." The doctor shook his head, his face cold, "I'm sorry, but I can only release information to the parents." He turned on his heel, leaving Arizona frozen to the spot. Slowly, sobs overtook her body, as she stumbled helplessly back to the waiting room, taking out her phone to call Callie.
"I can't believe my phone has been dead this whole time!" Callie exclaimed as she and Bailey pulled up to the hospital in Ellensburg, "What if something went wrong? Arizona could have been trying to reach me!"
"Torres, just relax. It's okay. They said it's just a broken leg right? Kids fall and break bones. She'll be fine," Bailey reassured her. Callie nodded, "I guess, but what does some teenager with an hour and half of first aid training know? She fell, she could have a brain bleed or she could have ruptured—"
"Which is why she is now at the hospital to get checked out. Look we're here, so just take a deep breath and go be with your wife and child, alright? I'll go park the car and meet you inside," Bailey stated calmly. Callie nodded, "Okay, thanks again for driving me all the way down here." Callie's car was undergoing some routine maintenance, so Bailey had generously offered to make the three hour drive to Ellensburg.
As she entered the hospital, Callie began looking for her family. Arizona had probably already called with the room number and updates, but her phone was out of battery, and probably had been since before she even left. She didn't think to check and grab her charger as she was leaving the hospital—she was too worried about Sofia. As she looked around, she was surprised to see her wife sitting in the waiting room, her head in her hands.
"Arizona!" Callie called to her, dashing toward her. Seeing her wife sitting out here worried her. Why was she in the waiting room? Were there complications? Had Sofia needed surgery? Hearing her wife, Arizona instantly got to her feet and rushed over to meet Callie as quickly as she could, "I've been trying to call you for hours." Arizona stammered, her voice thick. It was then that Callie noticed her wife's red eyes and damp cheeks. "I'm so sorry, my phone was dead and I forgot my charger. What's going on?" A million horrific scenarios were already speeding through her mind, but just as Arizona was about to answer, the doctor from earlier approached them.
"Excuse me, Mrs. Torres?" the doctor asked her. Callie quickly turned toward him, "Dr. Torres. Are you Sofia's doctor? How is she? What's going on?"
"Yes, I'm Dr. Bell. Your daughter is doing fine. Her head CT came back clear, and she just needs one more set of X-Rays before we put the cast on. Would you like to see her?" he asks calmly, deliberately avoiding Arizona's gaze. Callie nods in relief, following him down the hall. She feels Arizona grip her hand tightly as they approach Sofia's room; Callie can feel her wife shaking against her, so she plants a kiss on top of her head. She must have been terrified waiting for the CT results. Guilt fills her as she imagines Arizona waiting all alone.
They're almost at the end of the hall when they hear a small voice cry out, "Momma! Mami!" Callie looks up and sees Sofia sitting on a bed, her leg in a splint and wearing a hospital gown about two sizes too big for her. Before Callie can even respond, Arizona has dropped her hand and is by her daughter's bedside, "Hey baby girl! How you doing?" she coos gently, enveloping Sofia into a warm hug as she sits on the edge of her daughter's bed. "My leg hurts. And I had to go into a scary machine," Sofia cries, clinging to her mother tightly. Callie approaches her from the other side of the bed. "I know, babe. But the doctors are all just trying to make you better," she tells her daughter, stroking her soft black hair.
"What took you guys so long?" Sofia asked, to which Callie looked at Arizona in confusion. Hadn't Arizona gotten here hours ago? Was this the first time her wife had seen their daughter? "I'm so sorry, bug. The camp was just really far away. But we're here now and we're not going anywhere, okay? I promise," Arizona responded, placing a kiss on the top of Sofia's head. She looked up at Callie, who could tell that her wife was holding back tears. Now, Callie was really concerned, but she knew not to mention it in front of their daughter. So she took Arizona's hand and squeezed it, "We're right here, Sofia. We're here."
A nurse came by a few minutes later to take Sofia to get X-Rays. Arizona insisted that she and Callie come, even though she knew that parents weren't allowed inside the radiology lab. "We'll wait outside, so we can be there as soon as she comes out," she insisted sternly. She was still gripping Callie's hand like the jaws of life. The nurse hesitated, but relented when she saw Callie giving her a death glare, so they followed Sofia to radiology.
As soon as the door to the X-Ray lab was closed, Callie turned to her wife, "Okay, what the hell happened? Why couldn't you see her before?" Arizona hesitated, not meeting Callie's eyes. "Callie, Sofia is right inside and I don't want to worry her. Maybe we should—"
"Please, just tell me Arizona. I'm worried about you," Callie pleaded with her, gently tilting her wife's head up to meet her eyes. Arizona shook her head, swallowing the tears that threatened to fall, but when she spoke, her voice was surprisingly calm, almost detached. "He wouldn't let me see her," she said softly, still avoiding Callie's gaze.
Callie felt as if the air had been knocked out her lungs, "He what? You mean her doctor? How can he do that? You're her mother—"
"Yes, Callie. I'm her mother. I know that, and you know that. But apparently that wasn't enough for him. I'm not her real mother, so he wouldn't let me see her," Arizona snapped, voice cold and biting, thinly veiling her deep hurt.
Callie felt her blood boil, "Oh, he's dead. I swear to God, the next time I see him, I'm going to—"
"Callie, just let it go," Arizona mumbled, shaking her head. Callie's eyes widened, "Arizona, I will not just let it go, that was so totally not okay, and he—"
"He what? What are we going to do about it? Callie, I know it's not okay. I had to sit in the waiting room for hours by myself, scared to death because I had no idea what was going on with my child, and Sofia had to sit for hours with a broken leg and a scary machine without her momma. Of course it's not okay. It's the opposite of okay. It's light-years from okay. But I can't deal with that right now, because our priority is taking care of Sofia. Making sure she's okay and getting her out of this mess of a hospital before some asshole tries to tell me that I'm not her mother and—"
"Okay," Callie said gently, wrapping Arizona in her arms, "It's okay. You're her momma." She could feel Arizona taking deep, steadying breaths against her, trying once more to stop herself from shaking.
At that moment, the door to radiology opened behind them and the nurse pushed Sofia back out. Arizona quickly pulled away from Callie and grabbed her daughters hand once more. "Momma, they took a picture of my bones!" Sofia cried with excitement, and Arizona put on a smile to match her daughters, "They did! Well, you'll have to show it to me, okay?" she told her daughter, matching Sofia's enthusiasm. She then turned to her wife, "And you look at that X-Ray too and make sure these idiots know what they're doing before they put a cast on her leg." Callie nodded, she was already on it; no one would be going anywhere near her daughter's leg until she was confident they wouldn't mess it up. God knows they'd done enough damage today.
"So, I have to miss the rest of camp?" Sofia pouted, looking down at her neon green cast. Arizona nodded, "I'm afraid so, bug. But next week some of your camp friends can come visit and sign your cast, remember?" Sofia nodded, clearly still disappointed but willing to accept the consolation. But a moment later, fear clouded her features once more, "What about my stuff Momma? I left my jump rope and Sally in my cabin." Callie smiled at her girl, noting that she didn't seem to care that all her clothes were also in her cabin; Sofia's main concern was for Sally, her stuffed salamander. "Your Aunt Bailey went and got all your things. She's going to bring them by our house tomorrow, so do you think you can spend one night without Sally?" Callie asked, Sofia hesitated, but nodded, "I guess just one night." Arizona smiled, "That's my big girl." She stroked her daughter's, making a mental note to offer to cover Bailey's next weekend on-call shift to thank her for all her help.
Callie rubbed comforting circles into her wife's back as they sat with their child, waiting impatiently to be discharged. She could tell just by touch that Arizona was tense and exhausted—not that she could blame her. It had been an awful day for both of them, but Callie couldn't begin to imagine what Arizona had been through. Spotting their doctor standing over by the nurses' station, Callie stood and began to walk toward him, feeling her fury ignited anew. Before she could get too far, she felt Arizona grab her hand, "Callie, wait…" she whispered, her eyes begging her wife not to make a scene.
Callie took Arizona's hand in both of hers, rubbing it gently, "Don't worry, I'm just gonna see if I can speed up our discharge a bit." Arizona eyed her warily, but eventually gave in, nodding and releasing her hand.
Callie strolled over to the nurses' station, feigning nonchalance for the sake of her wife, and approached their doctor. "Excuse me, Dr. Bell?" she said, her voice sickeningly sweet in an attempt to momentarily hide her growing rage. The doctor turned around and smiled at her, "Yes, Mrs. Torres, how can I—"
"No, no, no. You don't talk, I talk," she spat, making sure her back was turned to her wife before instantly dropping any front of courtesy and fixing him with a glare, "First of all, it's Dr. Torres." Dr. Bell shook his head and held up a hand, "Excuse me—"
"Oh, I'm no where near done," Callie interrupted, venomously, but making sure to keep her voice low so that Arizona wouldn't hear, "My wife told me everything. She told me that she arrived at this hospital hours before I did and was barred from her daughters room. That you kept my wife, the mother of my child, away from our seven-year-old daughter, for no reason other than what? To make your sorry ass self feel powerful? You really think that's a good enough reason to keep a hurt child away from her terrified parent? Do you?"
"Ma'am, it's protocol—"
"Like hell it is! We are legally married, Arizona is Sofia's mother just as much as I am. She told you that she is my wife and Sofia's mom, and yet you still barred her from her daughter's room. What is it then? Don't think two women should be parents?"
Dr. Bell, sighed, "Dr. Torres, I can see you're upset—"
"Oh, upset is just the tip of the iceberg! I'm outraged! This is absolutely unacceptable, and you know it. And if you don't know it now, I'm going to make damn sure you do. I will be filing a complaint with your boss, and your boss' boss, and the board of this hospital, and hell, maybe even the American freaking Medical Association. I will be contacting my lawyer, if there is any legal action that can be taken against you personally, you best believe I'll be taking it. And I don't know what else I can do to make your life miserable, but you can bet your ass I'll think of something, because I'm just getting started."
"Dr. Torres, could you please—"
"So, what you can do now, is discharge my child immediately so that I can get my family the hell out of this hospital before I find myself a scalpel and rip you a new one!" Callie was practically seething at this point, as she glowered at Dr. Bell with eyes of fire. He paused a moment, before smiling coolly, "Let me get those discharge papers."
Callie nodded, before plastering on a smile, turning on her heel and walking back towards Arizona, hoping that she hadn't heard too much of what went down.
It was past midnight by the time they arrived home. Sofia had fallen asleep about an hour into drive, and the remainder of the ride had been spent in silence. Callie taken several worried glances toward her wife, hoping she might want to talk about what had happened, or at least sleep a bit, since she must have been exhausted, but Arizona just sat, mutely staring out the window.
As Callie carried their sleeping daughter into the house, Arizona gently kissed Sofia on the forehead, before looking up at her wife, "Could you put her to bed? I'm exhausted." Callie nodded sympathetically, "Of course. I'll see you in a few minutes."
When she reached Sofia's bedroom, she slowly laid her daughter on top of her bed and covered her lightly with her comforter. She placed a pillow under her leg, and she grabbed one of Sofia's stuffed lizards from the shelf hanging on the opposite wall, placing it under Sofia's arm. Not Sally, but it would have to do. "Goodnight baby girl," she whispered, planting a kiss on her daughter's cheek, before slowly and quietly leaving, so as not to wake her sleeping child.
Quietly, Callie made her way down the hall to her and Arizona's bedroom, slowly pushing the door open. She spotted Arizona's clothes strewn haphazardly on the floor, which was odd for her neat freak wife, who was usually a stickler for placing her clothes (and Callie's) immediately into the hamper. Callie changed into her pajamas as she heard her wife finish brushing her teeth before walking over to their bed, removing her prosthesis, and climbing in, closing her eyes without even saying good night.
Callie quickly brushed her teeth and slipped into bed after her wife. She had hoped that Arizona would want to talk about what happened, as she was clearly still upset about it, but decided not to push it. She knew her wife needed time to process, and would likely be more willing to talk about it after a good night's sleep. Leaning over and kissing her on the cheek, Callie whispered, "Love you," before rolling onto her back and turning off the light on her nightstand.
While staring up at the ceiling of their dark bedroom, Callie heard a whisper from Arizona's side of the bed, so soft she almost didn't hear it.
"I'm her momma."
And that was all it took. Within seconds, Arizona began to shake with loud, ugly cries. Callie reacted instantly, gently pulling her sobbing wife into her arms, running her fingers through her hair as she whispered into her ear, "Ssshhhh… you're her momma. You're her momma."
Slowly, Arizona's sobs began to fade until eventually her breathing evened out and her tears slowed. "I was so scared, Calliope," she whispered, her voice catching in her throat, "I just keep thinking, it could have been so much worse. She could have been really seriously hurt, or…" she paused, unable to even speak aloud her worst fears, "I tried calling you, but it just went straight to voicemail. And then I tried calling our lawyer, but I couldn't get a hold of her either, and even if I could, I don't know what she would have done. And I tried just walking up to the pediatrics floor, but apparently they told the receptionist to watch me or something, like I was some sort of criminal because she would always threaten to call security if I went any further, and I just didn't want to make it worse by getting myself thrown out of the building. So I just sat there, feeling so… helpless." Arizona began to tremble as she continued, her voice wet and shaking, "I'm her momma, and I was supposed to be there to hold her and protect her, but I couldn't be."
At that, Arizona dissolved once more into sobs, prompting Callie to wrap her even tighter into her arms, as if her embrace could somehow protect Arizona from feeling helpless or scared. When Arizona had calmed down once more, Callie suggested, "We'll call our lawyer tomorrow. And I'm gonna write a letter to the hospital to report him. And—"
"Calliope, none of that will help," Arizona interjected quietly, her eyes finding her wife's even in the dark of their bedroom. Callie stopped, looking at her wife in stunned confusion, "You don't know that, Arizona." Arizona sighed, shrugging her shoulders, "I mean, we can call our lawyer, and we can file a complaint, but we have all the legal protections we can get. We're legally married, and we filled out all the second parent adoption papers, but it wasn't enough. He still didn't let me see her, because I'm not her biological parent, and probably, though I'm sure he won't admit it, because I'm gay. That's the ugly truth of it, and we can't fix that."
Callie lay their silently soaking in her wife's words. Taking in just a piece of the awful helplessness that Arizona must have been experiencing today. She had to say, she didn't care for it, "We can at least try though. I want to try."
Despite herself, Arizona felt a small smile creeping across her face, "You told off that doctor today, didn't you?" Callie let out a small, nervous laugh; apparently, she hadn't been as subtle as she thought she had, "Yeah, I couldn't help it. I'm sorry."
Arizona shook her head, "Don't be. It's what I love about you. You're so brave, Calliope." She leaned her head against Callie's chest once more and took her wife's hand in hers, intertwining their fingers together. "We'll call the lawyer. We'll file the complaint."
Callie smiled, pleased to have gotten her wife on board, "Just you wait and see. By the time I'm not with that slimy crap weasel, he'll be crying for his momma." At that, Arizona laughed for the first time all day, her voice vibrating through her wife's chest. "Let's go to sleep, Calliope," she whispered, snuggling deeper into Callie's warm embrace where she could finally allow herself to relax.