The first thing you learn as a surgeon is to treasure the time you get to yourself. Since Callie Torres had her heart set on a career in medicine she knew nothing could or would come in her way. She dedicated her life to studying and practising her trade. Callie lived and breathed her career, for many years the lack of freedom from the hospital didn't affect her. Living in the basement of the hospital just enhanced her dedication to both her patients and her own personal goal.
The moment her and Mark Sloan became friends, she found herself wanting more freedom. The plastic surgeon made her want to spend her Friday night's with their friends drowning themselves in alcohol. The moment Callie Torres met Arizona Robbins, she finally understood the need to have freedom away from her work. The moment she clocked on a shift, she craved the time she spent with Arizona. She craved the late night pizza runs. She craved the trashy tv show's they'd watch on an afternoon. She finally found a reason to balance her work and personal life. The need for freedom only increased when Sofia Robbin entered the world. She needed to see her daughter grow up. She needed to spend every waking moment she could with her family.
Having a weekend of work was pure bliss for every surgeon, in this case Callie hadn't had a full weekend of work for a month. Every time she was scheduled a weekend break, she was paged in on an emergency. Callie didn't mind, she loved her job. However, Callie's love life did mind. This week she had a full 48 hours of no surgical demands.
So that's how she found herself standing in front of the mirror double checking over her outfit. A full weekend of work meant she and Penny could finally spend some time together. Smoothing down the creases of her dress, Callie smiled at herself. Throwing the essentials into her bag, Callie made her way out her house.
…
"Momma I wanna ring the bell!" An excited Sofia cheered as she ran ahead of her mother.
Shifting the pink bag onto her shoulder Arizona followed her daughter's direction, she picked her up from behind so she could press the button repeatedly. Placing Sofia back down in front of her, Arizona waited patiently for her ex wife to come to the door.
The door opened as a laugh escaped from the house into the open air. "Hey there little miss!" Penny spoke as she crouched to greet the little brunette.
"Penny guess what?" Sofia once again cheered as she bounced on the spot.
Feeling awkward Penny kept her gaze on Sofia instead of looking up to greet Arizona. "What?"
"I touched a giraffe!"
"You didn't?" Penny gasped as she covered her mouth with her hands.
Sofia nodded forcefully as she high fived Penny and ran into the house. Straightening herself out Penny stood up and locked a gaze with Arizona. There was a moment of silence before the red head spoke up. "Dr Robbins would you like to come in?"
Arizona had to bite her tongue, there was a odd feeling about being offered to step inside what she once called her home. Even more odd that it was by her ex wife's current girlfriend. Giving the younger woman a forced and small smile, Arizona walked past Penny into her old home.
…
"You touched a giraffe?!" Callie's eyes widen as she processed her daughter's words, she looked at Arizona who gave her a pleasing smile.
"I did! Momma held me and we gave him food!" Sofia beamed as she sat on the couch gripping a small plush toy. The toy was that of a giraffe, Sofia had instantly attached herself to the toy when she saw it in the gift shop.
Arizona pulled her phone out of her pocket before flicking through some photos from today, finding the one that made her smile she passed it over to Callie. The photo was of both Arizona and Sofia in front of the famous giraffe. Arizona was smiling at the little girl who was perched on the side of hip, Sofia was smiling up at the giraffe who has happily eating from the palm of her hand. Callie couldn't help but smile at the photo, she could feel the excitement of Sofia's feeding experience through the photo. Giraffes were one of Sofia's favourite animals at the zoo, for her to be scared of feeding one was a big achievement. Arizona had switched positions from across her ex wife and daughter to sitting next to them. She reached over and swiped the phone showing Callie the rest of their adventure.
Penny was stood in the kitchen pouring two glasses of wine. Her and Callie had enjoyed a romantic date at her favourite restaurant before taking a slow and relaxing walk down the broadwalk. They didn't spend much time together as both of them had hectic schedules. Their time alone was limited at the hospital, the tension always increased when Penny came into contact with the attendings. She had hoped after her apology regarding Derek's death, they would all begin to accept her into the group as Callie's girlfriend.
Walking back into the living room, she saw Callie sat next to Arizona looking down at the phone with Sofia on her lap. The threesome were laughing as Sofia told her mami about her experience with a monkey.
"I sat on the floor and... and.. I poked my tongue out.. like this mami" Sofia turned in her mother's arms and showed her how she poked her tongue out "and he poked his tongue out too! He did what I did!" Her face lit up and she picked the phone up and turned it round to Penny.
Penny raised her eyebrows and smiled at Sofia. She loved her girlfriend's daughter, she was a little character that brought laughter into their time together. At first, both Penny and Sofia had trouble adjusting to their new life. Sofia couldn't understand why her mami was friends with this new person and Penny had to adjust to her girlfriend being a mother. The biggest adjustment for Penny to adapt to was her girlfriends ex wife still being a huge part of their life. There wasn't a day that went past were she heard Arizona's name. She got on well with Arizona, the drunken surgeon made that fatal dinner party a little bit easier. She had focused on her new drunken nickname rather than the disgusted and shocked looks.
Looking at her girlfriend Penny couldn't help but smile to herself, she had gotten lucky. Callie had stood up for her after the dinner party, as much as she felt embarrassed by her attending girlfriend fighting her corner she was thankful. Swirling the wine in the glass, Penny was brought of her day dream by the sound of her girlfriend.
"Babe is everything okay?" Callie's concern asked.
Penny nodded in response.
"Sure?" Callie pressed again, she felt an odd vibe coming from her girlfriend.
"Callie I'm okay, I'm just listening to the conversation."
Looking at the time on her phone, Arizona pulled Sofia into her arms and planted several kisses on her face "I have to go Bug."
Sofia shook her head and buried herself further into her mother's arms. "We have to get lots of sleep bug, it's your first day at school tomorrow!"
Callie shuffled closer to the duo as she reached for Sofia's hand. "Momma will be back in the morning, we're going to take you to school."
"Me and Mami will be there to pick you up after school!" Arizona added as she sat the girl up straight on her lap. "What if we went for ice-cream after?" The mention of ice-cream made the younger Torres girl smile from ear to ear.
"You do braids tomorrow?" Sofa mumbled as she played with the plush toy in her hand.
"Of course I will do braids, I'll come a little bit earlier." Arizona smiled and gave her daughter another kiss on the cheek. Arizona moved Sofia's hair out the way of her ear before whispering to her daughter. The little girls facial expression changed to that one of a shock face. She put her hand over her mouth and began to giggle. She was then lifted off her mother's lap and placed to on the floor. Arizona rubbed her girls back before smiling at Penny and making her way to the door.
Callie and Sofia followed behind as they watched Arizona walk towards her car. "We're leaving just before eight, come here and we'll go in my car." Callie called out before her ex wife shut the door and began to drive away.
"I wish momma sleeped over again." The little girl spoke as she lent against her mother's body.
At the point Penny has followed the duo, like they did Arizona, she was stood behind them when she heard Sofia wishing Arizona had stayed over again. She doesn't remember ever having Arizona sleep over? She knew Callie and Arizona hadn't spent a night together since just before the separation.
"I wish she could sleep and have blue pancakes! I really really love blue pancakes mami." Sofia once again spoke, she slumped her shoulders and walked towards the stairs.
"Sofia you can play for ten minutes before bath time." Callie spoke as she watched her daughter climb the stairs.
Callie turned around and jumped at the sudden appearance of Penny in the door way "Penny you scared me!"
"What did Sofia mean when she wished Arizona stayed over again?"
Callie stopped in her tracks "Pardon?"
"You told me that you and Arizona hadn't spent a night together since the separation."
"Penny what are you trying to say?"
"When did Arizona stay here?"
Pinching the bridge of her nose, Callie sighed. She knew this wasn't going to end well, it was a known fact that her girlfriend had some underlying issues with her ex wife. Regardless of Arizona's perky comments at the dinner party, Callie couldn't help but notice the stand off vibe her ex wife displayed whenever Penny was around them.
"Sofa was upset when Arizona dropped her home, so we both put her to bed and she fell asleep. There's nothing else to it." Callie reached for both wine glasses and made her way into the kitchen. She rolled her eyes when she heard the sound of her girlfriend following her footsteps.
"Nothing else to it? Calliope your ex wife stayed over and by the sounds of it you all played happy families over pancakes."
"You know you're making a big deal out of nothing right? Me and Arizona as parents, sat and had breakfast with Sofia. Sofia is as much Arizona's daughter as she is mine."
"Oh you don't have to remind me." Penny sarcastically snapped as she threw her hands up in the air.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"There isn't a day that goes by when I don't hear her name."
Calmly drying her hands Callie turned around to face Penny. In the duration of their relationship they had only a handful of arguments. Each argument always found it's way to revolve about Arizona. Callie would become tense and angry almost as soon as the argument started. It would end in her storming upstairs to her bedroom or forcing Penny to leave. She had one too many arguments with Arizona while they were married so whenever her ex wife's name was brought into it, she automatically walked away.
"What do you expect me to do? Tell Sofia never to mention her mother? Tell everyone at work never to mention their colleague?"
"Callie Stop!"
"Me stop? What do you expect me to do, honestly?"
Holding a gaze with her girlfriend Penny shrugged her shoulders, she didn't know what she wanted Callie to do. She just wanted Arizona out her relationship.
Walking towards the brunette, Penny reached out to grab Callie's hand "I'm never going to have every part of you am I?" The red head stroked her thumbs across the palms of Callie's hand. "I know I shouldn't be jealous of Arizona, but how can I not? All the stories I hear about your relationship.. Callie you guys had the perfect romance."
"Hey." Callie quietly whispered as she placed a finger under Penny's chin, she gently brought Penny's face up to level with her eyes.
"You both share the most precious miracle, you have a daughter together. How can I compete with her?" Penny's voice began to break as she swallowed a lump.
"Arizona is always going to be in life, we both know that. I admire her as my daughter's mother, I respect her a surgeon and as the woman that I shared a large majority of my life with."
"Cal this isn't helping.."
Laughing to herself Callie continued. "I'm in a relationship with you Penny, you have every part of me."
Penny lightly kissed her girlfriend before gazing back at her "Promise?"
Callie hesitated.
Nodding briefly Callie pulled her girlfriend into a hug, she felt Penny grip her tighter. Why did she just feel like she lied to Penny? More importantly, why did she feel like she just lied to herself?
Hey! This chapter is a lot longer than the others, I had to cut it off as I was just writing and writing! I didn't include the date between Callie and Penny. If you guys would like more interaction between C/P instead of it being solely around C/A then let me know. Even though this story will end with Calzona, I understand people wanting to see other interactions. I really hope you liked it!