Meredith looked confused "Arizona, what did they want?"
Arizona shook her head "We should get the kids down for the night first." As she asked the kids to go get ready for bed.
Maggie said "Do you need us to leave?" She looked back and forth between Meredith and Arizona and finally Arizona spoke up and said "No, please stay. I may need your help."
Maggie and Gwen started cleaning up the dinner mess while Arizona and Meredith were busy with the kids. Once they were all down for the night, Arizona and Meredith joined Maggie and Gwen in the living room, Maggie poured the wine and Arizona declined. She started by giving Maggie and Gwen the whole history of the Carter Madison grant and her short stay in Africa. She explained how after she returned from Africa that Alex had started the program to bring the kids to Seattle for their surgeries.
Meredith interrupted and explained that was how they had adopted Zola. She turned to her girlfriend and asked again "Arizona, what did they want? You can't go to Africa. Not that I am saying you can't go but it's not advisable in your condition and what about Sofia?"
"Meredith, they didn't want me, they wanted to find you." Arizona held her girlfriend's hand. "There was an attack on a nearby village. Almost everyone was killed. Zola's parents, her biological parents were killed."
"Arizona, I still don't understand what's going on." Meredith looked confused "Why were they trying to find me?"
"Meredith" Arizona paused and looked to the other women for support "Zola has a biological brother. He's almost 3. He survived the attack. The people at the clinic remembered that you and Derek adopted Zola. They were hoping you would be open to adopting her brother too."
Meredith looked at all the women in the room. It felt like all the air left the room. She started breathing harder. "What are we going to do? Arizona, you're pregnant." Meredith said.
Arizona replied "I know." Looking confused.
The blonde looked at her lover and could see the conflict in her eyes. "Well, it looks like Bailey is about to have a brother." She pulled her girlfriend into her arms and held her.
"Arizona...that's 6 kids. 6. How did I go from 3 to 6?"
Maggie and Gwen have watched this whole thing unfold and Maggie said "Oh my God, you're pregnant?" She hugged Arizona and congratulated them both.
Arizona thanked Maggie and told them that her contact from Malawi is emailing her contact information on a social worker that could handle the adoption. He stated that they really needed to make a decision soon, he feared that the little boy would be sold to the next village if they didn't take him.
Meredith stood and said " I'm not sure I can handle this. I need some air." As she walked out the door.
Arizona fell to her knees in tears. This was not the reaction Arizona had expected from her girlfriend. She expected her to be shocked but this seemed like something else. The blonde knew that they had to get that little boy out of Africa and she knew that the thought of 6 kids was overwhelming to Meredith. She only knew one solution to that and as much as it broke her heart she knew she couldn't take away this chance for Zola to be with her brother.
She asked Maggie if she would stay with the kids until Meredith returned. She asked Gwen if she could stay with her tonight. Arizona packed a bag and told Maggie that she would see if Callie would pick up Sofia in the morning, if not she would make other arrangements for the little girl. Maggie said to Arizona "You don't have to do this. She will come around."
Arizona replied through tears "I can't be responsible for that little boy not being adopted. She can handle 4 kids, she has these past months, there is no reason she needs to handle 6. I, uh, never wanted to be a burden."
Meredith returned about an hour after Gwen and Arizona had left. Maggie was waiting for her and let her have it. "What were you thinking? How could you do this to her?"
Meredith replied "What are you talking about? I needed air. I needed time to process. Where is she? Did she go to bed already?"
Maggie shook her head "No Meredith, she left. She texted Callie to pick up Sofia in the morning and she packed a bag and went home with Gwen. She wasn't going to be responsible for that little boy not being adopted. She said you could handle 4 and she never meant to burden you with 6."
Meredith teared up "Oh my God, she must hate me. I'm the one who talked her into trying for another baby and now who knows what she must be thinking? I need to talk to her." She picked up her cell and called the blonde, it went straight to voice mail. She left a message asking Arizona to call her. She couldn't believe her stupidity. She acted irrationally and impulsively and now she hurt her girlfriend and possibly ruined the best thing that has happened to her in a long time. She called her girlfriend back and left another message apologizing and asking for a return call.
Callie arrived early and Meredith had packed Sofia's bag for the weekend. She kissed the little one and told her that her Momma would call her. Callie asked Meredith "Where's Arizona?" Meredith lied and told her she had been paged to the hospital.
Meredith tried calling Arizona again and it went straight to voicemail again. She called the hospital to see if Arizona was there but no one had seen her. She called Gwen who finally answered after the third call. "Meredith, she doesn't want to talk to you right now, she's hurting ."
Meredith told Gwen "I know I hurt her, I have to talk to her, please make her talk to me. This is all a misunderstanding. I have to make this right. Please Gwen."
Gwen told Meredith that she would see what could do. Gwen had spoken to Maggie and had already heard how Meredith reacted when she returned home last night. She thought there was a lack of communication on both parts, not to mention both ladies were stubborn as hell.
Arizona managed to avoid Meredith all weekend. She was having a rough time with all this and to make matters worse she was experiencing morning sickness. She contacted the chief because there was no way she would be able to sit through a whole board meeting, instead she spent that time in her office reviewing her charts for the day.
Meredith on the other hand showed up early. She needed to talk to Arizona and was hoping to do it first thing. Meredith had tried all weekend to contact the blonde but without any luck. Everyone was there except Arizona when Bailey walked in saying "Dr Robbins will not be attending the meeting, we should get started."
This was the longest 90 minutes of Meredith's life. When the meeting was over, she tried to get to Bailey to find out about Arizona when Callie stopped her. "Meredith, what's wrong with Arizona? She wasn't at your place when I picked up Sofia the other morning and now she doesn't show for a board meeting?"
Meredith sighed "Callie not now okay?" And she walked away. She went straight to Arizona's office. As luck would have it, the blonde was coming out of her office. Meredith grabbed her arm and pushed her back inside.
"Meredith, I have a surgery." Arizona said.
"Too bad. You don't get to just walk out and leave me without talking. We are not leaving this room until you hear me out." Meredith crossed her arms and leaned against the door. "I left the other night because I needed to process. I should have explained that better at the time. But you don't get to jump to conclusions and then ignore all my calls. Yes I was freaking out. But I never meant for you to think that I did not want you or our baby or Sofia." Meredith started crying "Arizona, I love you, I need you." She stepped forward and placed her hand on Arizona's stomach. "This is our baby. When we decided to try, we said it's just one more. We can handle 5, now we know about this little boy that needs us, it's just one more. That makes 6. I know I panicked the other night but that wasn't just about the numbers. It was about going through the whole adoption process again. If you remember last time, Derek and I had problems with it...Arizona, please come home."
The blonde looked into her girlfriend's eyes and pulled her into her arms "I'm so sorry."
Meredith put her hands on both sides of Arizona's face and pulled her in for a slow tender kiss. She leaned her forehead against the blondes and said "I can't live without you. Please don't make me." Arizona kissed her "I missed you." She said as her pager went off "I have a surgery."
Meredith let go of her girlfriend and said "We're good?" Arizona smiled and said "We're good."