Ch 8 Bring Acetone
Callie went to LA. And Arizona went home and cried every free second she had for 2 ½ days straight. She cried for Arden and the way her temperamental Mami had been treating her; she cried for the baby they had on the way because she wasn't sure what kind of household they'd be bringing him/her into; she cried for Callie, who really was loving and sweet and an amazing wife, but who had just been having an awful pregnancy with "morning" sickness that just wouldn't quit, and stupid cravings, and so much fatigue and back aches; she cried for herself because she was fried. Arizona cried for her marriage because the bond that held them strong was thinner than ever. And then, after all that, Arizona cried for the Anderson girl she lost on the table, whose heart just wasn't strong enough.
She cried and cried and cried, until little arms wrapped around her by surprise late Sunday afternoon. Teddy was meant to keep Arden one more night and take her to day care Monday morning with Kyle, but as Arden explained, "I just needa ta see you Mama."
When Arden realized Arizona had been crying she pulled back from the hug and said "Why are your eyes wet Mama, me thought big girls don't cry?"
Arizona chuckled at her daughter, "You know how sometimes you miss Abuelo and it makes you sad, well Mama was just a little sad."
"You miss me and Mami?"
"Of course, baby." Arizona replied, wiping some of her tears away.
"And are you sad because Mami's being a meanie?"
"Arden Grace, do not call your mother a 'meanie.' We talked about this; she's feeling a little icky because of the baby growing inside her. Sometimes it makes her sleepy, and sometimes it makes her tummy hurt-"
Arizona was cut off abruptly but Arden definitively saying. "And sometimes her is a meanie."
Arizona conceded defeat, and instead just hugged her baby tighter. Arden was right; Callie had been a 'meanie' recently.
The rest of their night was spent on the couch watching Disney movies and cuddling.
The following day Callie returned to Seattle with a little bit of perspective. The visit with Addison was great but she missed her little girl. Deciding there was no point in sitting at their house all alone, Callie went to the hospital to pick Arden up from daycare.
Arden was thrilled to see her Mami with a smile on her face and Callie promised they'd spend the whole day together. But chasing around a soon to be five year-old was hard work and Callie was exhausted, so before the middle of the second movie Callie was out like a light on the couch in the playroom.
Meanwhile at the hospital, Arizona was having a Murphy's Law type day. Between breaking the heel of her shoe that morning and the meeting with the hospital lawyers and the Chief about the Anderson girl not going well, and having two interns out with the flu, she felt like she couldn't get a break. She was startled by a knock on her office door that brought her out of her personal pity party.
When Teddy finally opened the door, her smile faltered by the defeated look of her best friend.
"Hey, I was going to ask you if you wanted to grab lunch, but you look like you need a pick-me-up so why don't we take the kids out of day care and get away from these four walls for a while."
Arizona pondered the idea for a minute. She really did love spending lunch with Arden. And she couldn't help how cute her daughter and Kyle were together; its cliché but she'd be really surprised if they didn't end up married in 20 years.
"Yeah, Ted. That sounds great. Just give me a minute to pack some of this up."
Within fifteen minutes both blondes were walking in the doors of the hospital daycare, they both began looking around for their children. Teddy was not surprised that Kyle didn't notice her come in because he was meticulously placing blocks on a tower he was creating so she slowly approached, not wanting to interrupt his concentration. Arizona on the other hand could not find her little Latina.
Rather than jumping to conclusions she decided to ask the caretakers if she was in the bathroom, or some other very reasonable explanation.
"Oh, Dr. Robbins, Dr. Torres checked Arden out a few hours ago."
Great –Arizona thought- She's back in town, AND she checked Arden out of daycare and no contact to me. Coming back from her train of thought, she realized that she hadn't responded.
"Ok, thanks Sammy, I must have just missed her call about it. Have a good day."
Arizona walked over to where Teddy and Kyle were and slowly sat down on the carpet.
"Ted, Callie checked Arden out for the day and must have taken her back home, so I'm just going to grab something from the cafeteria and finish the charts I was working on. We'll do this some other time, okay?" Arizona explained.
"Are you sure? You can still come to lunch with me and Kyle." Teddy offered.
"No, it's okay; you two enjoy. I'll talk to you later Teds. Kyle come give your favorite Aunt in the whole world a hug." Arizona beamed at the 5-year-old. Kyle got up and wrapped his small arms around her and squeezed her tight.
In that moment she felt blessed to have Teddy and her family in her life. People she knew loved and cared for her unwaveringly. She smiled back at both of them before slowly retreating to her office. When she got there she picked up the phone to call her wife. After getting Callie's voicemail 3 times she gave up. This was ridiculous.
To Calliope: Next time you pick Arden up in the middle of the day, heads up would be nice. : / And why didn't you come up to see me? I missed you this weekend. : ( See you when I get home I guess… xo A
Callie and Arizona had made it a general rule not to take naps unless Arden was napping if they were home along with her. History had a tendency to repeat itself; and their daughter had a tendency to get into mischief when she thought her moms weren't looking. This rule didn't account for one of the moms being 7 months pregnant, who could seemingly sleep standing up.
Hindsight being 20/20, Callie never should have lain down with Arden on the couch. She should have remained upright in order to remain awake; because now the 2.5 pound baby pushing on her bladder caused her to wake up abruptly to her four and a half year-old daughter glued to her right hand; literally glued to her right hand.
Callie tried to move the dead weight attached to her right side; Arden must have gotten bored or tired after she glued her left hand to her Mami's right and had fallen asleep beside her. When she was finally able to slide herself and her sleeping daughter up she noticed the super glue sitting on the coffee table, along with her cell phone flashing from missed calls and texts.
Adjusting Arden, she very carefully reached for her phone, seeing all the calls and texts from Arizona. She was trying really hard to stay calm, but she was less than appreciative of her daughter literally being glued to her, because she knew the super glue was kept very high up in cabinet where little hands couldn't reach it, meaning her wife must have left it out somewhere haphazardly. She also knew that the only way to successfully remove the pressure on her bladder was to wake her sleeping daughter and take her to the bathroom with her; which she was less than thrilled about. Lastly, she was even more annoyed with the attitude in her wife's text. Part of her knew Arizona was right, but her other circumstances were siding with the irrational part of her brain that was mad her wife was mad.
And in accordance with her recent history of passive aggressive behavior, Callie used her one free hand to text her wife back.
To Arizona: Oh don't worry; we're on our way to see you shortly. We'll meet you in your office. Bring acetone.
She probably could have detached that at home herself, but she didn't trust her one good hand to do it.
"Arden, baby, I need you to get up." Callie tried to coax her daughter out of her sleep; today was one of those days Callie wished Arden had inherited Arizona's light sleeping habits rather than her own. "Please, baby. We need to go see Mama to get us unstuck."
Callie finally woke Arden and finally managed to relieve the pressure on her bladder, which was not easy with only her left hand. She couldn't figure out if Arden was still half asleep or scared that she was in trouble because every time she asked Arden why she glued them together she got no response, which was making her even more unhappy. When they got to the car Callie sent a quick 'thank you' to the powers that be, that Arden had chosen her left hand to glue to her Mami's right because, although still uncomfortable, at least she could put Arden in the front seat and drive with her left hand.
When they got to the hospital they took the back way up to Arizona's office because Callie wanted to see as few people as possible. She was getting more and more annoyed by the situation the longer it progressed and she was trying not to take it out on her four and a half year-old daughter.
Arizona must have just gotten Callie's text because by the time they got to her office, she was just getting back there herself.
"Hey, is everything okay? What's the acetone for?" Arizona asked.
"Can we please just go inside?" Callie pleaded. Arizona nodded her head and opened the office door, holding it for both of her girls.
After they were inside with the door closed, Callie dropped her purse on the chair and let out a loud frustrated sigh. She held up her and Arden's attached hands.
"The acetone is for this. I must have fallen asleep while watching Cinderella and Arden decided she should glue us together. And now she won't tell me why, or say much of anything at all. Do you know how difficult it is to go to the bathroom with a four and a half year-old literally attached to you, let alone the drive here, and why was the super glue out to begin with?" Callie shot off making both Arden and Arizona apprehensive for what would come next.
Arizona tried to process all of what Callie had just said, and then looked down into the sad brown eyes of her daughter. Callie was getting impatient with her wife and daughter, "Seriously 'Zona, come on."
"No, we're not doing this like this." Arizona asserted. "I'm going to get you unstuck and then you and I are going to talk about what happened, alone. I'm not fighting with you in front of our daughter anymore. She's seen too much of it recently and it ends now." When she was finished with her proclamation, she felt good. The look on Callie's face was surprised and she knew she hit a nerve. Before she detached her girls, she paged Teddy. She wanted someone with Arden while she and Callie hashed out the past 72 hours.
When her girls were finally separated, she stepped back and looked at Callie, "Cal, have a seat, I'm going to meet Teddy so she can watch Arden for us, and I'll be right back."
When Arizona stepped out of her office, she knelt down next to her daughter and pulled her into a tight hug.
"I'm sorry Mama," Arden whispered tears threatening to overtake her small form. Arizona just hugged her tighter.
"I know baby, I'm sorry too." She pulled back from the hug, "Now Mami and Mama are going to talk, for a little while. Be good for Aunt Teddy, okay big girl?"
"Yes ma'am. I love you."
"I love you too."
When she was back inside her office, she took a deep breath before sitting in the chair opposite her wife. Callie opened her mouth to speak but Arizona cut her off.
"No. I'm going to talk for a minute. I've been walking on eggshells with you because I love you and you're carrying my baby and I know that you're feeling awful because of the morning sickness and the backaches and the fatigue and I'm trying to do everything I can for you and for the baby and for Arden but you're being… what did Arden call you… a 'meanie.' You can't keep snapping at us, we love you and we're trying to make you feel better and you're leaving us feeling awful. I don't know why Arden super-glued herself to you, but she's four and a half, she's going to do things like that, and we can be angry about it, but we can't be hateful and mean. She's a little girl; she doesn't always understand the consequences of her actions. And yes, I left the super glue out. My heel broke when I was already late this morning on the way to a meeting with the chief and the hospital lawyers because the Anderson girl didn't make and her parents were not thrilled, and you would know all this if you had decided to pick up your phone all weekend." Arizona stopped to take a breath. Callie was stunned into silence. Arizona grabbed her hand.
"Listen, I know, I know that you're stressed and tired, and get angry with me these days really easily, but you're my wife, and sometimes I need to` be able to lean on you too. This week has been really hard, I've lost a lot of kids that should still be here, and I've had no one to lean on because the love of my life decided she needed a weekend away from me-"
"Zona, I didn't need the weekend away from you."
"You did, Cal, you did. And I was so torn up that I had Teddy take Arden for the weekend because I'm tired of seeing her sad from watching us fall apart. I love you so much, but we have to fix this because we're adding a baby into the mix in a few short weeks and I'm terrified that the way you're treating us isn't going to change. And I need it to change, because I can't keep being your punching bag." Arizona stood up, stepped closer to her wife, put a hand on her baby belly and kissed her softly on the forehead.
"I'm going to go find Arden and Teddy. I'll try to figure out why she did what she did today. She's your daughter, she's only mischievous with a purpose," Arizona smiled slightly at the thought, "And then I'm going to take her pizza. I'd love for you to join us, but if you don't want to, we'll see you at home."